B  536. A24  P53  1923 
Philostratus ,  the  Athenian, 
2nd/3rd  cent. 

Life  and  times  of 


»  —  ^  T  1 _ 


_  -C  m  -  .  ^ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofapollOOphil 


STANFORD  UNIVERSITY  PUBLICATIONS 

UNIVERSITY  SERIES 

LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 

Volume  II  Number  1 


A 


Life  and  Times  of  Apollonius 

of  Tyana 


Rendered  mto  English  from  the 
Greek  of  Philostratus  the  Elder 


BY 

CHARLES  P.  EELLS 


STANFORD  UNIVERSITY,  CALIFORNIA 
PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 

1923  " 


Stanford  University 
Press 


PREFACE 


In  the  last  half  of  the  fifth  century  that  engaging  “man  of  letters, 
imperial  functionary,  country  gentleman  and  bishop,”  Sidonius  Apol- 
linaris,  sent  a  copy  of  Philostratus’  “Life  of  Apollonius”  to  his  friend  Leo, 
the  chancellor  of  a  Frankish  king  at  Toulouse,  with  this  message :  “Throw 
aside  your  endless  labors  and  steal  a  respite  from  the  burdens  and  bustle 
of  the  Court,  so  that  you  may  really  study  this  long-expected  volume  as  it 
deserves.  When  once  absorbed  in  it  you  will  wander  with  our  Tyanean 
over  Caucasus  and  Indus,  to  the  Brahmins  of  India  and  to  the  naked  ^ 
philosophers  of  Nubia.  It  describes  the  life  of  very  much  such  a  man  as 
you  are,  with  due  respect  to  your  Catliolic  faith.  Courted  by  sovereigns, 
but  never  courting  them;  eager  for  knowledge;  aloof  from  money-getting; 
fasting  at  feasts ;  linen-clad  among  wearers  of  purple ;  rebuking  luxury ; 
self-contained;  plain-spoken;  shock-headed  in  the  midst  of  perfumed 
nations;  revered  and  admired  for  his  simplicity  by  the  satraps  of  tiara-ed 
kings,  who  themselves  were  reeking  with  myrrh  and  malobathrum  and 
polished  with  pumice-stone ;  taking  from  the  flocks  nothing  to  eat  or  to 
wear ;  and  notwithstanding  all  these  peculiarities  not  distrusted  but  honored 
wherever  he  went  throughout  the  world,  and  although  royal  treasures  were 
placed  at  his  disposal  accepting  from  them  merely  those  gifts  to  his  friends 
which  it  suited  him  better  to  bestow  than  to  receive.  In  short,  if  we  measure 
and  weigh  realities,  no  philosopher’s  biography  equal  to  this  has  ever  ap¬ 
peared  in  the  times  of  our  ancestors,  so  far  as  I  know;  and  I  am  certain 
that  in  my  time  it  finds  a  worthy  reader  in  you.”  This  appreciative  tribute 
might  well  stand  as  the  prelude  of  our  own  book,  but  the  obloquy  heaped 
upon  Apollonius  ever  since,  and  the  suspicion  with  which  he  is  still 
regarded,  when  he  is  remembered  at  all,  seem  to  require  a  more  extended 
introduction. 

He  was  born  in  Tyana,  a  Greek  city  of  Asia  Minor,  three  years  before  ' 
the  birth  of  Christ,  and  he  lived  about  a  hundred  years,  until  the  reign  of 
Nerva.  As  with  Moses,  no  man  knoweth  his  grave  unto  this  day.  Devoted 
to  philosophy  from  his  boyhood,  he  studied  it  after  the  unequalled  method 
of  those  days,  by  listening  to  lectures  and  to  disputations  of  rival  thinkers 
in  every  market-place  and  from  the  steps  of  every  temple.  He  chose  as  his 
own  the  philosophy  of  Pythagoras,  and  enthusiastically  practiced  its  aus¬ 
terities,  maintaining  absolute  silence  for  five  years  as  a  mental  discipline, 
avoiding  all  relations  with  women,  giving  away  his  patrimony,  and  wear¬ 
ing  only  linen  garments.  In  the  phraseology  of  today  he  was  a  vegetarian 


4 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


and  a  total  abstainer.  He  claimed  that  by  this  mode  of  life  his  senses  were 
made  abnormally  acute,  so  that  he  had  a  premonition  of  future  events  and 
became  aware  of  the  minds  of  men  and  of  distant  happenings ;  and  he  suc¬ 
cessfully  set  up  that  defense  when  he  was  tried  for  sorcery  before  the 
emperor.  He  prayed  to  the  Sun  three  times  a  day,  offering  incense  but 
never  sacrificing  victims.  He  believed  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  in 
metempsychosis,  and  in  a  supreme  deity,  the  creator  of  the  universe. 
Indeed  it  may  be  argued  that  in  the  deities  whom  he  worshipped  he  saw 
merely  phases  and  agencies  of  this  supreme  deity,  for  in  referring  to  the 
gods  collectively  he  is  frequently  quoted  by  Philostratus  as  using  indis¬ 
criminately  the  words  ‘^gods”  or  ‘‘god and  the  Indian  sage  larchas  with 
his  evident  approval  likens  the  universe  to  a  ship  of  which  the  creator  is 
the  master  and  the  subordinate  gods  are  petty  officers.  All  his  life  long  his 
advice  and  help  were  constantly  sought  by  cities,  temples,  and  rulers 
everywhere,  and  were  freely  given  without  reward.  He  journeyed  over  the 
known  world  from  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  the  Ganges  river,  and  south  to 
the  Cataracts  of  the  Nile,  acquiring  and  imparting  wisdom.  In  middle  age, 
when  his  travels  were  not  half  completed,  he  told  his  disciples  that  he  had 
already  seen  more  of  the  earth’s  surface  that  any  other  man  had  ever  done. 
During  his  long  and  laborious  life  he  wrought  many  wonders,  and  many 
men  regarded  him  as  an  incarnate  divinity.  The  kings  of  Persia  and  of 
India  vied  with  each  other  to  do  him  honor.  After  his  death  the  emperor 
Hadrian  built  a  temple  and  endowed  a  priesthood  for  his  worship  at  Tyana. 
The  emperor  Aurelian  vowed  to  do  the  like,  calling  him  the  most  godlike, 
holy,  and  venerable  of  mankind,  endowed  with  more  than  mortal  powers, 
and  declaring:  “if  I  live  I  will  publish  at  least  a  summary  of  his  wonderful 
deeds,  not  because  they  need  anything  my  words  can  give,  but  to  make 
them  as  familiar  to  all  lips  as  they  are  marvellous.”  Another  emperor, 
Alexander  Severus,  with  questionable  taste,  set  the  image  of  Apollonius 
in  his  private  chapel  or  lararium,  among  his  tutelary  deities,  in  company 
with  Orpheus,  Abraham,  and  Christ !  This  very  history  we  owe  to  the 
reverence  paid  to  his  memory  by  the  empress  Julia  Domna,  the  wife  of  / 
Septimius  Severus,  who  commissioned  Philostratus  to  write  it  and  supplied 
him  with  most  of  the  materials.  For  two  hundred  years  after  his  death 
Apollonius  was  generally  acclaimed  as  more  divine  than  human,  until  in 
the  reign  of  Diocletian  a  Roman  pro-consul  Hierocles  attempted  to  sweep 
back  the  rising  tide  of  Christianity  by  publishing  his  “Candid  Words  to 
Christians,”  in  which  he  drew  an  unfavorable  comparison  of  Christ  with 
Apollonius.  The  nascent  Church  easily  confuted  this  attack,  but  could  not 
forget  nor  forgive  it ;  and  not  content  with  its  victory  over  its  rash  assail¬ 
ant  it  stigmatized  the  long-dead  philosopher  as  a  charlatan  inspired  and* 
aided  by  the  devil.  This  chorus  of  detraction  has  been  very  persistent.  As 


PREFACE 


5 


late  as  the  time  of  Charles  the  Second,  when  one  Charles  Blount  tried  to 
publish  in  England  a  translation  of  Philostratus’  biography,  he  complains 
in  his  preface  that  the  clergy  would  only  let  him  print  the  first  two  of  its 
eight  books,  and  that  the  Catholic  priesthood  was  especially  active  in  its 
opposition. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  work  contains  many  statements  which  tax 
our  credulity.  Its  ideas  of  natural  history  and  of  demonology  are  those 
which  were  universally  prevalent  in  the  first  century  of  our  era,  and  which 
lasted  with  little  change  until  the  eighteenth.  Apollonius’  exorcism  of 
ghouls,  satyrs,  hobgoblins  and  plagues  may  perhaps  have  been  honest  self- 
deception.  His  resuscitation  of  the  apparently  dead  girl  in  Rome  is  attrib¬ 
uted  to  possibly  natural  causes  by  Philostratus  himself.  Mesmerism  or 
sleight  of  hand  may  account  for  other  strange  occurrences ;  but  no  such 
ready  explanation  can  be  given  of  his  instantaneous  transits  from  Smyrna 
to  Ephesus,  and  from  Rome  to  Puteoli ;  or  of  his  watching  in  Ephesus  the 
simultaneous  assassination  of  Domitian  in  Rome;  or  of  his  vanishing 
before  the  eyes  of  the  emperor  and  of  the  crowded  courtroom,  after  his 
trial,  in  proof  of  which  Philostratus  cites  the  court-records  then  extant. 
Apollonius  either  had  such  command  of  occult  forces  as  has  been  claimed 
in  modern  times  for  his  instructors,  the  so-called  Adepts  of  India,  or  he  was 
a  singularly  successful  impostor, — highminded,  altruistic,  but  an  impostor. 
The  judicious  Gibbon  says  of  him  that  “his  life  is  related  in  so  fabulous  a 
manner  by  his  disciples  that  we  are  at  a  loss  to  discover  whether  he  was  a 
sage,  an  impostor  or  a  fanatic;”  and  Professor  Basil  L.  Gildersleeve  in  his 
“Essays  and  Studies”  declares  that  to  disengage  the  real  Apollonius  from 
the  romance  of  Philostratus  is  quite  impossible.  We  do  not  attempt  to 
solve  the  riddle  of  Apollonius’  interesting  personality,  but  we  do  insist  that 
Philostratus  and  his  predecessor  Damis  acted  in  entire  good  faith  in  por¬ 
traying  him.  It  seems  unfair  to  hold  either  of  them  answerable  for  this 
doubt  in  order  to  acquit  Apollonius.  The  theory  that  this  biography  is  an 
ingenious  romance  like  DeFoe’s  “Robinson  Crusoe,”  composed  presumably 
as  an  anti-Christian  polemic,  attributes  to  the  imperial  court  of  Rome  at 
the  beginning  of  the  third  century  the  hostility  and  fear  which  actuated 
Hierocles’  intemperate  zeal  at  its  close.  Aside  from  the  consideration  that 
such  a  literary  tour  de  force  was  foreign  to  the  taste  of  classical  writers, 
we  find  no  historical  justification  for  this  belief,  and  no  other  conceivable 
motive  is  assigned.  The  third  century  saw  the  greatest  expansion  of  the 
Church,  and  yet  fifty  years  after  Philostratus  wrote  the  Christians  in  Rome 
constituted  less  than  one-fifth  of  the  population,  and  far  less  than  one-fifth 
in  power  and  influence.  Why  would  the  empress  publish  such  an  elaborate 
tract  to  undermine  the  faith  of  an  infant  sect,  one  of  hundreds  in  the 
empire,  few  of  whose  adherents  would  see  the  book  or  be  able  to  read  it? 


6 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


The  book  itself  contains  no  allusion  to  Christianity,  and  apparently  Apol¬ 
lonius  had  never  heard  of  Christ,  although  he  was  born  and  bred  in  Asia 
Minor,  spent  much  of  his  after-life  there,  visited  Syria,  and  was  insatiable 
in  his  search  and  study  of  new  systems  of  philosophy.  If  any  attack  on  the 
Church  was  intended  by  this  history  it  was  too  covert  to  be  effective,  which 
was  not  a  usual  fault  of  controversial  literature  in  those  days.  The  internal 
evidence  of  the  book  is  even  more  convincing  that  it  is  what  it  purports  to 
be,  a  faithful  and  painstaking  compilation  from  Damis’  notes,  and  from 
all  other  available  memoirs  and  records,  including  the  voluminous  corre¬ 
spondence  of  Apollonius  himself  which  had  been  preserved  and  collected. 
If  either  Philostratus  or  Damis  consciously  exaggerated  the  miracles  of 
Apollonius,  they  must  have  been  astounded  by  their  own  moderation,  like 
Warren  Hastings  in  the  begum’s  treasure-house.  They  rarely  describe  any 
exercise  of  his  supernatural  powers,  and  never  enlarge  upon  them,  seeming 
to  take  them  for  granted  as  being  well-known.  Damis  was  an  Assyrian,  a 
kind  of  Asiatic  Boswell,  who  attached  himself  to  Apollonius  at  the  outset 
of  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Sages  of  India.  Both  were  young  men  then,  and 
they  remained  inseparable  companions  in  travel  and  adventure  until  just 
before  Apollonius’  death.  Damis’  mental  attitude  toward  his  master  was 
that  of  a  faithful  and  affectionate  dog.  Every  night  he  noted  down  all  the 
sayings  and  doings  and  sights  of  that  day,  in  unwearying  detail.  This 
huge  mass  of  memoranda,  which  he  entitled  “Droppings  from  the  Manger,” 
became  an  heirloom  of  his  family  and  was  brought  by  them  to  Julia 
Domna,  who  employed  Philostratus  to  condense  it  into  a  narrative,  “paying 
especial  attention  to  the  style  of  composition,”  as  he  tells  us  complacently, 
because  the  Assyrian  lacked  style.  We  are  tantalized  on  every  page  by  a 
reminder  of  the  unconsidered  trifles  which  he  discarded  in  making  his 
selections.  What  a  storehouse  of  information  now  would  be  the  original 
unstylish  manuscript  of  Damis !  Even  in  its  pruned  and  abridged  condition 
the  story  is  the  most  vivid  and  comprehensive  presentation  of  the  daily  life 
of  the  first  century  which  has  come  down  to  us.  Rome,  Greece,  Asia 
Minor,  Mesopotamia,  Persia,  India,  Spain,  Egypt,  Nubia,  Sicily,  and  the 
islands  of  the  ^gsean  Sea  pass  in  a  panorama  before  our  eyes,  with  all 
sorts  and  conditions  of  men  in  their  habit  as  they  lived,  and  working  out 
their  own  answers  to  the  problems  which  still  perplex  us.  It  is  a  wonderful 
picture,  and  after  making  every  allowance  for  error  and  deception  the 
central  figure  remains  essentially  vital  and  dominating. 

The  original  text  employed  for  this  version  is  Ant.  Westermann’s 
edition  of  the  text  of  C.  L.  Kayser,  as  published  by  A.  F.  Didot  at  Paris 
in  1849. 


BOOK  ONE. 


Pythagoras  and  his  philosophy — Origin  and  sources  of  this  biogra¬ 
phy — Birth  and  education  of  Apollonius — His  mode  of  life — 
His  eloquence— Resigns  his  patrimony — Sets  out  to  visit  the 
Magi  at  Babylon  and  the  Brahmins  of  India — Damis  joins  him 
AT  Nineveh — Journey  to  Babylon — Entertained  there  by  King 
Vardanes. 

1. 

The  admirers  of  Pythagoras  the  Samian  all  say  of  him  that  long 
before  his  existence  as  an  Ionian  he  was  born  in  Troy  as  Euphorbus,  and 
that  after  dying  as  Homer  describes  he  subsequently  came  to  life  again  in 
Ionia.  They  tell  of  him  that  he  wore  no  garments  derived  from  animals 
subject  to  death  and  that  he  kept  himself  pure  by  neither  eating  nor 
sacrificing  any  living  creature,  and  that  he  did  not  stain  his  altars  with 
blood,  but  offered  to  the  gods  only  honey-cakes  and  incense  and  hymns, 
being  well  assured  that  they  were  better  pleased  with  such  tributes  than  by 
hecatombs  of  victims  and  the  sacrificial  knife  in  the  priest’s  basket ;  for  he 
had  fellowship  with  the  gods,  and  had  learned  directly  from  them  what 
human  conduct  pleases  them  and  what  offends  them.  His  eulogists  also 
claim  that  he  was  inspired  by  the  gods  in  teaching  the  wonders  of  the 
physical  world,  and  that  while  others  only  guess  at  the  divine  nature  and 
reach  conflicting  opinions  concerning  it,  Apollo  himself  had  appeared  to 
him  without  disguise;  and  Athene  and  the  Muses,  and  other  gods,  whose 
shapes  and  names  we  do  not  know  as  yet,  had  companied  with  him,  though 
not  declaring  themselves.  All  the  teachings  of  Pythagoras  his  disciples 
treat  as  laws,  and  they  venerate  him  as  the  messenger  of  Zeus.  They  main¬ 
tain  scrupulous  silence  on  the  subject  of  divine  things,  for  they  hear  many 
sacred  mysteries  which  would  be  incomprehensible  to  any  who  had  not 
learned  that  silence  itself  is  sometimes  full  of  meaning.  Empedocles  of 
Agrigentum  is  believed  to  have  also  adopted  this  system  of  philosophy,  for 
that  passage  of  his, 

“Earewell,  my  friends !  Henceforward  I  shall  be 

A  god,  exempted  from  mortality !” 

and  that  other  line, 

‘^Once  I  was  born  a  maiden ;  once  a  boy 

and  moreover  the  ox  made  of  dough  which  he  is  said  to  have  sacrificed  at 
Olympia,  all  indicate  his  Pythagorean  opinions.  But  I  must  omit  other 


8 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


interesting  accounts  of  the  disciples  of  Pythagoras  in  order  that  I  may  take 
up  at  once  my  chosen  subject. 

2. 

Although  Apollonius  lived  neither  long  ago  nor  very  recently,  and  his 
mode  of  life  was  similar  to  that  of  Pythagoras,  and  he  came  nearer  to 
divine  wisdom,  subjecting  even  tyrants  to  his  will,  he  is  not  yet  properly 
appreciated  for  the  true  wisdom  which  he  developed  by  sound  and  philo¬ 
sophical  reasoning.  Some,  who  entirely  misconceive  him,  think  of  him  as 
a  wizard  who  learned  magic  by  rote,  because  he  knew  familiarly  the  Magi 
of  Babylon,  the  Brahmins  of  India  and  the  naked  sages  of  Egypt.  But 
Empedocles,  and  Pythagoras  himself,  and  Democritus  dwelt  with  the  Magi 
and  often  wrought  miracles,  without  ever  being  suspected  of  witchcraft. 
After  Plato  had  visited  Egypt  he  inserted  in  his  writings  many  quotations 
from  the  priests  and  seers  of  that  country,  like  a  painter  filling  in  with 
colors  the  outlines  he  has  sketched,  but  for  all  that  he  was  never  accused 
of  practising  magic,  in  spite  of  the  extreme  jealousy  which  his  wisdom 
excited.  No  more  should  the  fact  that  Apollonius  foresaw  and  foretold 
many  events  convict  him  of  forbidden  practices;  unless  Socrates  is  also  to 
be  charged  with  them  because  he  claimed  to  foresee  things  by  the  aid  of 
his  guardian  genius;  and  Anaxagoras  as  well,  because  of  his  prophecies. 
It  is  common  knowledge  that  when  drought  had  long  prevailed  at  Olympia 
Anaxagoras  came  into  the  market-place  there  wrapped  in  a  sheepskin, 
whereby  he  gave  warning  of  the  rain  which  came  down  soon  after;  and 
that  he  foretold  that  a  certain  house  would  fall  down,  which  it  actually 
did  at  the  time  he  had  appointed;  and  that  he  prophesied  that  the  day 
would  be  turned  into  night,  and  that  a  shower  of  stones  would  fall  from 
the  sky  at  ^gospotami — all  of  which  forecasts  came  true.  We  all  con¬ 
cede  to  Anaxagoras  that  power  of  predicting  future  events  by  his  wisdom, 
and  yet  men  are  unwilling  to  credit  Apollonius  with  a  similar  gift,  and  say 
that  what  he  did  was  only  done  by  sorcery.  This  widespread  ignorance  of 
the  man  seems  intolerable  to  me,  and  my  purpose  in  this  history  is  to 
investigate  carefully  whatever  he  said  and  did,  and  under  what  circum¬ 
stances,  and  by  what  system  of  philosophy  he  acquired  the  reputation  of 
an  inspired  and  godlike  being.  I  have  collected  my  materials  partly  from 
those  cities  which  cherish  his  memory;  partly  from  those  temples  whose 
antique  rites  he  restored ;  partly  from  what  others  have  recorded  of  him, 
and  partly  from  his  letters  which  he  used  to  write  to  kings,  professors,  and 
philosophers,  to  Eleans,  Delphians,  Indians,  and  Egyptians,  on  theology, 
ethics,  customs  and  laws,  in  all  which  matters  he  corrected  any  laxity  of 
observance ;  but  the  most  accurate  and  detailed  information  has  come 
to  me  in  the  following  manner. 


BOOK  ONE 


9 


3. 

A  certain  man  named  Damis,  from  the  ancient  city  of  Nineveh,  having 
some  education,  studied  philosophy  under  Apollonius,  and  kept  a  record 
of  many  travels  in  which  he  claims  to  have  been  his  companion,  setting 
down  his  expressions  of  opinion,  his  conversations  and  his  predictions ; 
and  these  commentaries,  which  have  never  before  been  published,  some 
kinsman  of  Damis  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  empress  Julia,  the  con¬ 
sort  of  the  emperor  Septimius  Severus.  Because  she  loved  and  fostered 
all  literary  pursuits,  and  I  was  admitted  to  her  circle,  she  commissioned 
me  to  edit  tliat  narrative,  paying  especial  attention  to  the  style  of  composi¬ 
tion,  for  the  man  from  Nineveh  wrote  clearly  enough  but  with  small 
attempt  at  elegance.  Moreover  I  chanced  to  find  a  book  by  Maximus  the 
^gean  containing  all  the  doings  of  Apollonius  in  the  city  of  JEg3^;  and 
the  will  written  by  Apollonius  himself  still  exists,  from  which  may  be 
learned  by  what  divine  inspiration  he  pursued  philosophy.  Little  credence 
however  should  be  given  to  Moeragenes,  for  although  he  has  written  four 
volumes  about  Apollonius  he  knew  very  little  of  his  history.  This  sum¬ 
mary  of  my  authorities  indicates  how  I  have  collected  scattered  sources 
of  information  and  have  endeavored  to  combine  them  in  a  consecutive 
biography.  May  this  work  bring  honor  to  the  man  who  is  its  subject,  and 
benefit  to  the  lovers  of  learning,  who  can  certainly  discover  in  it  some 
things  they  never  knew. 

4. 

Apollonius  was  born  at  Tyana,  a  Greek  city  among  the  tribe  of  Cappa¬ 
docians.  His  father,  also  named  Apollonius,  was  of  ancient  family,  de¬ 
scended  from  the  founders  of  that  city,  and  having  unusually  large  proper¬ 
ty  even  in  that  wealthy  community.  While  his  mother  was  pregnant  with 
him  she  had  a  vision  of  Proteus,  the  Egyptian  god  who  turns  himself  into 
various  shapes,  according  to  Homer.  Unterrified  by  the  apparition  she 
asked  it  what  her  child  would  be,  and  he  replied  ''myself  V’  On  her  asking 
"Who  are  you?”  he  answered:  "the  Egyptian  god,  Proteus.”  I  need  not 
describe  the  wisdom  of  Proteus  to  those  who  know  from  the  poets  how 
subtle  he  was,  and  how  many-sided  and  elusive,  and  how  he  seemed  to 
know  and  to  foreknow  everything.  It  will  be  well  to  bear  Proteus  in  mind, 
as  it  develops  from  our  story  how  our  hero  was  more  far-seeing  than  he, 
and  how  he  vanquished  all  his  dangers  and  difficulties  when  they  seemed 
most  overwhelming. 

5. 

He  is  said  to  have  been  born  in  that  meadow  where  a  temple  dedi¬ 
cated  to  him  now  stands,  and  the  notable  manner  of  his  birth  should  not 
be  passed  over  in  silence.  When  his  mother  was  near  her  time  she  was 


10 


'APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


warned  by  a  dream  to  go  into  the  meadow  to  gather  flowers ;  and  after 
coming  there  she  fell  asleep  on  the  grass,  while  her  maids  wandered  about 
looking  for  blossoms ;  whereupon  the  swans  which  fed  there  formed  a 
circle  round  her  as  she  slept,  and  all  sang  together  with  spread  wings  after 
their  fashion,  while  the  breeze  murmured  gently  through  the  grass.  Waked 
by  the  singing  she  sprang  up,  and  brought  forth  her  child  then  and  there, 
for  anything  startling  may  hasten  birth  even  before  the  time.  Those  living 
there  declare  that  at  the  moment  of  her  delivery  a  lightning  flash  was 
seen  to  strike  the  earth  and  then  to  glance  upward  till  it  vanished  in  the 
sky;  whereby,  as  I  think,  the  gods  indicated  and  foreshadowed  the  glory 
of  the  man,  and  his  superhuman  quality,  and  his  fellowship  with  the  gods, 
and  all  that  he  would  be. 

6. 

There  is  a  pool  called  Asbama  near  Tyana  which  they  say  is  sacred 
to  Zeus  the  avenger  of  perjury.  Its  spring  flows  icy-cold  but  bubbling  like 
a  boiling  kettle,  and  though  its  water  is  pleasant  and  health-giving  to  true 
men,  it  overtakes  oath-breakers  with  instant  punishment,  for  it  attacks 
their  eyes  and  hands  and  feet,  and  they  are  smitten  with  dropsies  and 
wastings,  so  that  they  cannot  leave  the  pool,  but  are  held  there  wailing  by 
the  water  until  they  confess  their  guilt.  Now  the  natives  assert  that  Apol¬ 
lonius  was  the  son  of  this  Zeus,  though  he  calls  himself  the  son  of 
Apollonius. 

7. 

When  he  was  old  enough  to  learn  his  letters  he  showed  a  strong 
memory  and  acute  intellect.  He  spoke  Attic  Greek,  uncorrupted  by  the 
local  dialect,  and  he  attracted  all  eyes  by  his  remarkable  physical  beauty. 
On  his  reaching  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  his  father  took  him  to  Tarsus 
to  be  taught  by  a  well-known  rhetorician,  Euthydemus  the  Phoenician, 
who  undertook  his  education.  Apollonius  liked  his  tutor,  but  he  thought 
the  manners  of  the  city  disgusting  and  unsuited  to  the  study  of  philosophy, 
for  nowhere  are  any  people  more  given  over  to  luxury,  or  more  light- 
minded  and  insolent,  and  they  think  more  of  the  quality  of  their  linen  than 
the  Athenians  do  of  knowledge.  The  Cydnus  river  flows  through  the  city, 
and  the  indolent  citizens  settle  along  its  banks  like  so  many  ducks,  where¬ 
fore  Apollonius  wrote  in  a  letter  to  them :  “Stop  fuddling  yourselves  with 
water!”  He  induced  his  father  to  send  his  tutor  and  himself  to  ^gse,  a 
neighboring  city  where  the  quiet  was  more  conducive  to  philosophizing, 
and  the  tastes  of  the  people  were  more  suitable  for  young  men,  and  there 
was  a  temple  of  ^sculapius  in  which  the  god  sometimes  manifested  him¬ 
self.  There  Apollonius  discussed  philosophy  with  Platonists  and  Stoics  and 
Peripatetics,  and  listened  besides  to  the  doctrines  of  Epicurus,  thinking 


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11 


even  them  worth  his  study ;  but  he  embraced  the  teachings  of  Pythagoras 
with  incredible  ardor.  It  happened  that  the  master  of  the  Pythagorean 
school  there  was  not  of  the  highest  type,  and  did  not  exemplify  his  philo¬ 
sophic  preaching  by  his  practice,  for  he  was  addicted  to  gluttony  and  to 
women,  and  behaved  more  like  Epicurus  than  like  Pythagoras.  He  was 
named  Euxenus,  of  Heraclea  in  Pontus,  and  he  had  committed  to  memory 
the  tenets  of  Pythagoras  in  the  same  way  that  parrots  learn  human  speech ; 
for  those  birds  say  the  prayers  “good  speed  to  you,”  and  “farewell,” 
and  “God  bless  you,”  without  understanding  what  they  chatter,  or 
meaning  what  they  say,  but  merely  because  their  tongues  are  capable  of 
framing  the  words.  However,  as  eaglets  while  their  wings  are  weak  stick 
close  to  their  parents  and  learn  from  them  how  to  fly,  but  when  strong  of 
wing  they  soar  higher  than  the  old  birds,  especially  when  they  see  them 
greedy  and  drawn  to  earth  by  the  scent  of  carrion ;  so  Apollonius  while  he 
was  a  boy  gave  attention  to  Euxenus  and  learned  from  him  by  listening  to 
what  he  repeated  by  rote;  but  on  reaching  his  sixteenth  year  he  flew  to 
the  Pythagorean  life  winged  by  some  higher  power.  Yet  he  did  not 
cease  to  love  Euxenus,  for  he  obtained  from  his  father  a  suburban  villa 
for  him  with  pleasant  gardens  and  fountains,  and  said  to  him :  “Live  here 
after  your  own  fashion,  but  I  will  live  like  Pythagoras.” 

8. 

Euxenus  remarked  that  it  was  an  ambitious  undertaking,  and  asked 
him  how  he  would  begin,  and  he  replied:  “as  physicians  do,  when  by 
purging  the  bowels  they  ward  off  disease  from  some  patients,  and  cure 
others.”  From  that  time  on  he  abstained  from  animal  food  as  unclean  and 
dulling  the  mind,  and  he  lived  on  dried  fruits  and  vegetables,  declaring  that 
whatever  the  earth  produced  from  its  own  bosom  was  pure.  He  also 
pronounced  wine  to  be  a  pure  drink,  as  coming  from  the  kindly  vine,  but 
inimical  to  mental  concentration  because  it  clouds  the  ether  of  the  soul. 
Having  thus  purified  his  system  by  this  diet  he  also  decided  to  go  bare¬ 
footed,  and  discarding  all  clothing  derived  from  animals  he  wore  a  linen 
robe,  let  his  hair  grow  long,  and  spent  his  time  in  the  temple ;  where  all  the 
inmates  marvelled  at  him,  and  HIsculapius  himself  told  his  priest  that  he 
delighted  to  have  Apollonius  present  when  the  sick  were  healed.  Then  the 
Cilicians  and  their  neighbors  flocked  to  yEgse  to  see  him,  and  the  saying 
originated  about  him  which  is  still  a  proverb  in  Cilicia :  “Where  are  you 
running?  To  see  the  lad?” 

I 

9. 

The  biographer  of  a  man  so  honored  by  the  gods  should  not  leave  out 
his  doings  in  the  temple.  A  young  Assyrian  had  come  to  .Tlsculapius  to  be 
cured,  but  he  continued  his  dissipation  in  spite  of  his  illness,  and  spent  or 


12 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


rather  squandered  his  life  in  drinking,  so  that  he  suffered  from  a  dropsy, 
and  took  no  thought  of  reducing  it,  while  he  devoted  himself  to  wine¬ 
drinking.  For  this  reason  ^sculapius  ignored  him  and  would  not  appear 
to  him  even  in  dreams.  While  he  complained  of  this  neglect  one  day  the 
god  showed  himself  and  said:  “Consult  Apollonius  and  be  cured.”  Ac¬ 
cordingly  the  youth  came  to  Apollonius  and  asked :  “What  can  your  wis¬ 
dom  do  for  me,  for  ^sculapius  commands  me  to  consult  you?”  The 
answer  was :  “It  can  help  you  very  much.  Do  you  wish  to  be  well  ?”  “By 
Zeus,”  said  the  youth,  “^sculapius  has  promised  me  that,  but  he  does  not 
perform  it!”  “Speak  reverently,”  said  Apollonius;  “he  gives  health  to 
those  who  really  wish  it,  but  you  on  the  contrary  are  aggravating  your 
illness,  for  in  abandoning  yourself  to  dissipation  you  pile  dainties  into 
your  soaked  and  exhausted  stomach,  and  add  mud  to  the  water  you  have 
already.”  And  here  I  think  he  spoke  more  plainly  than  the  learned 
Heraclitus,  who  said,  when  he  was  suffering  from  the  same  disease,  that 
what  he  needed  was  something  which  could  turn  a  rainstorm  into  a 
drought,  an  obscure  and  puzzling  remark,  whereas  Apollonius  cured  the 
young  man  by  giving  him  good  advice  which  was  also  intelligible. 

10. 

One  day  seeing  the  altar  reeking  with  blood,  and  sacrifices  laid  upon 
it,  and  slaughtered  Egyptian  oxen  and  huge  swine  which  were  being 
skinned  and  cut  up,  and  two  golden  bowls  besides,  inlaid  with  most  bril¬ 
liant  and  precious  Indian  rubies,  Apollonius  went  to  the  priest  and  asked 
him :  “What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this  ?  Somebody  is  making  a  great  effort 
to  please  the  god  1”  The  priest  replied :  “You  will  be  all  the  more  surprised 
when  I  tell  you  that  this  person  is  sacrificing  so  liberally  without  ever 
having  prayed  at  this  shrine,  or  having  waited  here  the  usual  time,  or 
having  received  health  from  the  god,  or  having  obtained  any  of  his  wishes, 
for  he  came  only  yesterday.  And  yet  he  sacrifices  in  this  unstinted  way,  and 
he  says  that  he  will  give  still  greater  offerings,  if  ^sculapius  will  be  favor¬ 
able  to  him.  He  is  a  very  rich  man  who  has  more  property  in  Cilicia  than 
all  the  other  Cilicians  put  together.  He  asks  the  god  to  restore  an  eye 
which  he  has  lost.”  Apollonius,  gazing  at  the  ground  as  he  used  to  do  in 
later  years,  inquired  the  man’s  name,  and  on  learning  it  he  said :  “It  seems 
to  me,  priest,  that  this  man  should  not  be  admitted  to  the  temple  on  any 
account.  He  comes  here  because  he  is  a  guilty  wretch,  and  he  has  suffered 
that  accident  in  no  honest  way.  The  very  fact  that  he  sacrifices  so  lavishly 
in  advance  of  any  favor  from  the  god  indicates  that  he  is  not  doing  it  in 
worship,  but  to  buy  off  punishment  for  some  base  and  horrid  crime.”  Thus 
spoke  Apollonius.  That  night  yEsculapius  appeared  to  his  priest  and  said : 
“Send  that  fellow  and  his  gifts  away,  for  he  does  not  deserve  to  keep  his 


BOOK  ONE 


13 


other  eye !”  On  making  inquiries  the  priest  learned  that  this  Cilician’s 
wife  had  a  daughter  by  a  former  husband,  and  that  this  man  had  a  guilty 
passion  for  the  girl  and  lay  with  her,  not  making  any  secret  of  it,  and  that 
the  girl’s  mother  on  finding  them  together  had  put  out  both  her  daughter’s 
eyes,  and  one  of  her  husband’s,  by  thrusting  cloak-pins  into  them. 

11. 

Apollonius  made  use  of  the  following  argument  to  prove  that  no 
sacrifices  or  offerings  to  the  gods  should  exceed  a  moderate  limit.  A 
number  of  people  having  gathered  in  the  temple  soon  after  that  Cilician 
had  been  driven  away,  Apollonius  catechized  the  priest  thus :  “Are  not  the 
gods  just?”  he  asked.  “Most  just,  certainly,”  was  the  reply.  “And  wise  as 
well?”  “Of  course,”  the  priest  replied,  “for  what  is  wiser  than  divine  wis¬ 
dom?”  “Do  they  know  the  affairs  of  men,  or  do  they  not?”  asked  Apol¬ 
lonius.  The  priest  answered :  “In  that  respect  the  gods  excel  men  most  of 
all ;  for  by  reason  of  our  limitations  we  do  not  even  understand  our  own 
affairs,  but  the  gods  know  both  their  own  and  ours.”  Then  said  Apol¬ 
lonius  :  “All  you  have  said,  priest,  is  quite  right  and  entirely  true ;  but 
since  they  know  everything,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  petitioner  coming  to  the 
temple  with  a  sense  of  what  is  best  for  himself  would  offer  a  prayer  like 
this :  ‘O  ye  gods !  give  me  what  I  ought  to  have !’  For  good  gifts  are  the 
due  of  good  men,  and  they  should  be  denied  to  undeserving  men.  The 
gods,  who  deal  justly,  when  they  find  a  man  upright  and  stainless,  send 
him  away  crowned,  perhaps  not  with  golden  crowns,  but  with  every  bless¬ 
ing.  Whereas  the  man  who  is  branded  with  crime  and  corrupt  they  leave 
to  the  punishment  which  he  has  earned,  being  all  the  more  offended  by  his 
daring  to  bring  his  impurity  into  their  temples.”  Then  turning  to  the 
image  of  the  god  he  exclaimed:  “O  ^sculapius,  you  practice  a  secret 
science  known  only  to  yourself  in  not  allowing  rascals  to  enter  here,  even 
though  they  pile  up  for  you  the  riches  of  India  and  of  Sardis.  For  they  do 
not  make  such  sacrifices  and  offerings  out  of  reverence  for  the  divine 
majesty,  but  to  redeem  themselves  from  that  vengeance  which  you,  who 
are  justice  itself,  do  not  spare  them.”  Many  such  discourses  he  uttered  in 
the  temple  while  still  a  lad. 

12. 

Another  characteristic  incident  occurred  during  his  stay  at  7Egx.  The 
prefect  of  Cilicia  at  that  time  was  an  overbearing  and  licentious  man,  and 
having  heard  of  the  comeliness  of  Apollonius  while  he  happened  to  be  hold¬ 
ing  court  at  Tarsus  he  put  off  all  business  on  hand  and  went  to  2Egce, 
pretending  to  be  ill  and  to  be  seeking  the  aid  of  ^Tisculapius.  Meeting  Apol¬ 
lonius  as  he  walked  alone  he  said :  “Commend  me  to  the  god.”  Apollonius 
replied:  “What  need  have  you  of  commendation  if  your  are  sincere?  The 


14 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


gods  show  favor  to  all  worthy  men  without  requiring  an  intercessor.”  The 
other  said :  ‘T  ask  it  because  the  god  has  made  you  his  guest,  but  he  has  not 
yet  received  me.”  Apollonius  replied :  “My  love  of  virtue  has  recom¬ 
mended  me  to  him,  and  by  practicing  it  as  well  as  a  young  man  may  I  have 
become  a  servant  of  ^sculapius  and  one  of  his  household.  In  the 
same  way,  if  virtue  is  dear  to  you,  you  too  may  approach  the  god  with  confi¬ 
dence  and  may  ask  of  him  what  you  will.”  The  prefect  said :  “By  Zeus,  so 
I  will,  but  after  asking  something  from  you  first.”  Apollonius  asked : 
“What  have  you  to  ask  of  me  ?”  The  prefect  answered :  “That  which  is 
usually  asked  of  beautiful  boys ;  to  let  others  enjoy  your  beauty,  and  not  to 
be  miserly  of  the  prime  of  your ‘ youth!”  and  with  wanton  gestures  and 
watery  eyes  he  employed  every  lewd  and  infamous  suggestion.  Sternly 
glaring  at  him  Apollonius  shouted :  “You  are  mad,  you  scoundrel !”  The 
prefect  flamed  with  rage  and  threatened  to  have  him  beheaded,  but  Apol¬ 
lonius  only  smiled  and  exclaimed:  “Your  day  is  at  hand  I”  and  in  fact 
on  the  third  day  thereafter  the  lictors  executed  that  evil-doer  on  the 
highway  for  plotting  sedition  against  Rome  with  Archelaus,  the  king  of 
Cappadocia.  These  and  other  similar  stories  of  Apollonius  were  collected 
by  Maximus  of  ^gse,  a  man  who  was  honored  in  imperial  letters  as  a 
great  orator. 

13. 

On  receiving  word  of  his  father’s  death  he  hastened  to  Tyana,  where 
he  entombed  him  with  his  own  hands  at  the  side  of  his  mother,  who  had 
also  died  not  long  before.  The  very  considerable  estate  left  by  his  father 
was  divided  between  Apollonius  and  his  brother,  who  was  a  dissipated 
drunkard,  but  had  full  control  of  his  portion,  being  in  his  twenty-third 
year;  whereas  Apollonius,  only  twenty  years  old,  was  legally  subject  to 
guardians.  After  going  back  for  a  time  to  ZEgse  he  converted  the  temple 
there  into  a  Lyceum  and  an  Academy,  for  it  resounded  with  every  type 
of  philosophical  discussion ;  but  when  he  had  attained  manhood  and  was 
his  own  master  he  returned  to  Tyana.  Someone  there  told  him  that  he 
ought  to  make  his  brother  economical  and  to  reform  his  morals,  but  he 
said :  “That  seems  like  a  very  presumptuous  undertaking :  for  how  shall  I, 
the  younger  brother,  venture  to  correct  my  elder  ?  However,  I  will  relieve 
his  distresses  as  far  as  I  can.”  He  began  by  giving  him  half  of  his  patri¬ 
mony,  saying  that  his  brother’s  necessities  were  greater  than  his  because  he 
himself  required  very  little.  Then  cautiously  following  it  up  with  persua¬ 
sions  to  reform,  he  said :  “The  father  who  brought  us  both  up,  and  used  to 
admonish  us,  is  dead,  and  now  you  are  the  only  one  left  to  me,  as  I  am  to 
you.  So  if  I  fall  short  in  any  way  you  must  warn  me  and  set  my  conduct 
right;  and  on  the  other  hand,  if  you  should  fail  in  any  respect,  please 


BOOK  ONE 


15 


listen  to  my  remonstrances.”  In  this  way,  very  much  as  trainers  tame  wild 
and  stubborn  colts,  he  tamed  his  brother  and  reclaimed  him  from  his  many 
vices,  although  he  had  been  a  slave  to  wine  and  gaming,  and  consorted 
with  low  women,  swaggering  about  so  proud  of  his  hair  that  he  dyed  it. 
After  his  brother’s  affairs  had  yielded  so  well  to  his  management  Apollo¬ 
nius  turned  his  attention  to  his  other  relatives,  aiding  those  of  them  who 
were  needy  with  the  rest  of  his  inheritance,  and  reserving  only  a  little  for 
himself.  He  remarked  that  Anaxagoras  of  Clazomene,  who  had  invested 
his  money  in  flocks  and  herds,  was  a  better  philosopher  for  sheep  than  for 
men ;  and  that  Crates  the  Theban,  who  had  thrown  all  his  money  into  the 
sea,  had  benefited  neither  men  nor  sheep.  A  saying  of  Pythagoras  was 
commonly  quoted  with  approval,  that  no  man  should  have  to  do  with  any 
woman  but  his  wife ;  and  Apollonius  said  that  this  rule  was  excellent  for 
others,  but  for  his  own  part  he  would  not  even  marry,  and  would  have  no 
dealings  with  Venus  of  any  kind;  for  that  in  this  respect  he  had  gone  far 
beyond  Sophocles,  who  said  in  his  old  age  that  he  had  escaped  from  an 
insane  and  cruel  master,  but  he  himself  through  the  exercise  of  virtue  and 
chastity  had  not  been  dominated  by  that  master  even  in  his  youth,  and 
though  young  and  full-blooded  he  had  overcome  and  controlled  the  crazy 
tyrant.  Nevertheless  some  writers  still  persist  in  falsely  accusing  him  of 
unchastity,  and  say  that  he  lingered  among  the  Scythians  for  a  year  because 
he  had  a  love-affair  there,  although  in  fact  he  never  went  to  Scythia  at  any 
time,  and  never  did  have  a  love-affair  in  his  life.  Not  even  Euphrates 
dared  to  accuse  him  of  unchastity,  though  he  published  many  other  calum¬ 
nies  about  him,  as  we  shall  show  when  our  narration  has  to  do  with 
Euphrates.  He  fell  out  with  Apollonius  because  the  latter  had  chided  him 
for  always  acting  upon  mercenary  motives,  and  had  rebuked  his  greed  for 
money  and  his  making  mejxhandise,  of  philosophy ;  but  these  subjects  must 
be  left,  to  be  taken  up  in  their  due  course. 

14. 

Euxenus  having  asked  Apollonius  why  he  had  written  nothing  yet, 
though  full  of  noble  thoughts,  and  expressing  himself  so  clearly  and 
readily,  he  replied:  “Because  so  far  I  have  not  practiced  silence.”  from 
that  time  on  he  resolved  to  be  mute,  and  did  not  speak  at  all,  though  his 
eyes  and  mind  took  in  everything  and  stored  it  away  in  his  memory.  Even 
after  he  had  become  a  centenarian  he  remembered  better  than  Simonides, 
and  used  to  sing  a  hymn  in  praise  of  the  memory,  in  which  he  said  that  all 
things  fade  away  in  time,  but  time  itself  is  made  fadeless  and  undying  by 
recollection.  Nevertheless  his  company  did  not  lose  its  charm  during  his 
term  of  silence,  for  his  eyes  and  hands  and  the  movements  of  his  head 
indicated  his  thoughts  in  the  conversation,  and  he  did  not  appear  gloomy 


16 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


or  sullen,  but  retained  his  kindly  and  gentle  demeanor.  He  said  afterward 
that  this  conduct,  which  he  continued  for  five  years,  was  very  irksome  to 
him,  for  while  he  had  much  to  say  he  did  not  say  it,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  ignore  many  annoying  things,  and  often,  when  provoked  to  reproof,  he 
had  to  tell  himself  '‘hold  your  tongue  and  your  temper  \”  and  in  that  way 
he  had  refrained  even  from  noticing  insults. 

15. 

Part  of  this  period  of  silence  he  spent  in  Pamphylia  and  part  in 
Cilicia,  but  though  living  among  such  dissolute  people  he  never  spoke,  and 
could  not  be  induced  to  open  his  mouth.  Whenever  he  came  to  a  riotous 
town,  and  many  of  them  used  to  fight  over  the  trivial  performances  in 
their  theatres,  the  disturbance  always  ceased  when  he  appeared  in  the 
sight  of  the  mob  and  manifested  his  rebuke  by  hand  or  look ;  so  that  the 
crowd  instantly  became  as  still  as  in  the  religious  mysteries.  To  quiet  a 
crowd  fighting  about  racehorses  or  actors  may  be  no  great  matter,  for  the 
ringleaders  of  such  factions  will  blush  at  seeing  a  wise  man,  and  will  try 
to  act  sensibly;  but  when  a  city  is  famine-stricken  it  is  not  easy  to  make 
the  people  forget  their  hunger,  and  to  soothe  their  wrath,  even  by  a 
powerful  and  persuasive  speech.  Yet  it  was  enough  for  Apollonius  in  such 
a  case  merely  to  stand  mute  before  their  eyes.  On  one  occasion  he  came  to 
Aspendus,  the  third  largest  city  of  Pamphylia,  situated  on  the  Eurymedon 
river,  where  nothing  but  vetches,  and  other  things  which  never  are  eaten 
except  from  dire  necessity,  was  being  sold  in  the  market  to  feed  the 
people ;  for  the  men  in  power  had  hoarded  all  the  grain  so  that  they  might 
make  a  profit  by  exporting  it.  He  found  a  mob  of  citizens  of  all  ages 
raging  around  the  prefect  of  the  province  and  about  to  burn  him  alive,  re¬ 
gardless  of  his  clinging  to  the  statue  of  the  emperor  Tiberius,  which  at 
that  time  was  more  dreaded  and  inviolate  than  the  image  of  Olympian  Zeus 
himself.  But  this  was  of  Tiberius,  in  whose  reign  a  man  was  convicted 
and  punished  for  sacrilege  because  he  had  beaten  his  own  slave  at  a 
time  when  the  slave  happened  to  be  carrying  a  silver  coin  stamped  with 
the  emperor’s  likeness.  Apollonius  intervened  at  once  by  going  to  the 
prefect  and  asking  him  by  signs  what  was  the  matter.  He  replied  that  he 
was  not  the  guilty  party,  but  on  the  contrary  was  suffering  the  same  priva¬ 
tion  as  exasperated  the  people,  and  that  unless  he  was  allowed  to  speak  to 
them  he  must  die,  and  the  people  would  all  die  with  him.  Apollonius  turned 
to  the  surrounding  crowd  and  indicated  to  them  by  nodding  that  they 
should  listen  to  the  prefect ;  whereupon  they  not  only  stilled  their  clamor, 
but  they  laid  down  their  torches  upon  the  altars  standing  near,  out  of  the 
reverence  which  he  inspired  in  them.  Taking  courage,  the  prefect  cried 
out:  "This  one  and  that”  (mentioning  several  men  by  name)  "are  re- 


BOOK  ONE 


17 


sponsible  for  the  existing  famine,  for  they  have  collected  all  the  grain,  and 
are  hoarding  it  in  different  places  throughout  the  province.”  A  cry  was 
raised  in  the  crowd  to  go  and  attack  these  hoards,  but  Apollonius  by  his 
gestures  prevailed  on  them  not  to  do  that,  but  instead  to  send  for  the 
accused  persons,  and  induce  them  to  surrender  the  grain  without  violence. 
When  these  men  were  brought  before  him  he  could  hardly  restrain  himself 
from  breaking  his  vow  of  silence,  so  moved  was  he  by  the  tears  of  the 
multitude,  for  women  and  children  were  in  the  throng,  and  old  men,  com¬ 
plaining  that  they  were  dying  of  starvation.  Still  keeping  to  his  resolution, 
he  wrote  his  reproof  on  his  tablets  and  gave  it  to  the  prefect,  who  read  it 
aloud  in  these  words:  “Apollonius  to  the  food-peddlers  of  Aspendus :  the 
earth  is  mother  of  us  all,  for  she  is  impartial,  but  you  by  your  injustice 
have  made  her  the  mother  of  none  but  yourselves ;  and  if  you  do  not  stop 
it,  I  shall  not  permit  you  to  stand  on  her  any  longer.”  This  terrified  the 
culprits  so  that  they  filled  the  market-place  with  grain,  and  the  city  revived. 

16. 

When  the  period  of  his  silence  had  expired  he  visited  Antioch  the 
Great,  and  entered  there  the  temple  of  Daphnsean  Apollo,  where  the 
Assyrians  locate  the  Arcadian  myth,  asserting  that  Daphne  the  daughter 
of  Ladon  was  metamorphosed  there ;  because  a  river  called  Ladon  does 
flow  there,  and  a  laurel-tree  is  honored  as  being  the  very  tree  into  which 
the  maiden  was  transformed.  Immensely  tall  cypresses  also  surround  the 
temple,  and  the  spot  yields  gentle  and  perennial  springs,  in  which  Apollo 
is  supposed  to  bathe.  The  tradition  is  that  the  earth  produced  the  first 
sprout  of  these  cypresses  in  memory  of  the  Assyrian  boy  Cyparissus,  and 
the  beauty  of  the  trees  lends  credit  to  such  an  origin.  It  may  be  thought 
that  I  seek  to  decorate  my  story  by  relating  such  fables ;  but  I  do  so,  not 
for  their  intrinsic  merit,  but  because  Apollonius  observing  that  the  temple 
was  beautiful,  but  that  it  contained  no  religious  earnestness,  and  that  its 
inmates  were  only  ignorant  and  semi-barbarous  men,  said :  “Apollo,  trans¬ 
form  these  dumb  creatures  too  into  trees,  for  if  they  were  cypresses  they 
would  at  least  give  forth  some  sound !”  On  seeing  how  softly  and  still  the 
springs  flowed,  he  remarked :  “This  place  is  so  voiceless  that  it  does  not 
even  let  the  streams  murmur.”  Looking  at  the  Ladon  river,  he  said  :  “Not 
only  was  your  daughter  metamorphosed,  Ladon,  but  you  are  too ;  for  from 
being  a  Greek  and  an  Arcadian  you  seem  to  be  turned  into  a  barbarian.” 
When  he  was  disposed  to  discourse  to  the  people  there  he  avoided  crowded 
and  noisy  resorts,  saying  that  he  required  not  mobs  but  men  for  hearers ; 
nevertheless  he  frequented  the  more  sacred  places,  and  dwelt  in  those 
temples  which  were  kept  open.  At  sun-rise  he  performed  certain  religious 
rites  in  private,  sharing  them  with  none,  except  those  who  had  practiced 


18 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


silence  for  four  years  like  himself.  After  completing  them,  if  he  happened 
to  be  in  a  Greek  city  whose  ceremonies  were  familiar  to  him,  he  would 
assemble  the  priests,  to  discuss  religious  observances  with  them,  correcting 
any  error  they  might  have  made  in  departing  from  the  ancient  ritual.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  the  rites  were  unfamiliar  and  peculiar,  he  would  inquire 
of  the  priests  the  origin  of  such  procedure  and  for  what  purpose  it  had  been 
established,  and  after  learning  its  history  and  suggesting  any  desirable 
improvement  which  occurred  to  him,  he  would  ask  in  turn  for  any  ques^ 
tions  they  might  have.  He  used  to  say  that  those  who  professed  his 
philosophy  should  converse  with  the  gods  at  daybreak;  then  later  in  the 
day  should  discourse  concerning  them,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the 
day  they  might  discuss  affairs  of  men.  After  answering  any  questions 
asked  him  by  his  companions,  when  the  conversation  had  gone  far  enough, 
he  would  take  his  stand  for  public  disputation  precisely  at  noon,  and  never 
sooner.  When  he  had  discoursed  to  the  people  for  a  suitable  time,  he 
would  be  oiled  and  rubbed,  and  then  would  plunge  into  cold  water,  for  he 
called  hot  baths  the  senility  of  mankind.  Once  when  the  baths  had  been 
closed  to  the  townsmen  of  Antioch  because  of  the  great  offenses  committed 
in  them,  he  said:  ''The  emperor  has  added  many  years  to  your  lives,  ye 
men  of  Antioch,  because  of  your  depravity !”  And  when  the  Ephesians 
wanted  to  stone  their  prefect  because  their  public  baths  were  not  heated 
enough,  he  said :  "You  find  fault  with  the  prefect  because  the  baths  are 
bad ;  but  I  find  fault  with  you  because  you  use  hot  baths  at  all.” 

17. 

His  style  of  speaking  was  not  lyrical  and  swollen  with  poetic  expres¬ 
sions  ;  nor  was  it  full  of  unusual  words  or  affectedly  Attic,  for  he  disliked 
being  more  than  moderately  Attic ;  nor  did  he  indulge  in  subtlety  or  pro¬ 
lixity,  and  he  was  never  known  to  equivocate  or  to  walk  back  and  forth 
before  his  audience ;  but  when  he  discoursed  he  spoke  as  from  a  tripod,  and 
would  say  "I  know,”  or  "thus  I  think,”  or  "where  does  that  lead  you?”  or 
"you  must  know.”  His  expressions  of  opinion  were  concise  and  clear-cut 
as  a  diamond;  his  words  were  remarkably  well-chosen  and  apt,  and  what 
he  uttered  had  the  ring  of  royal  edicts.  Being  twitted  by  a  quibbler  with 
never  asking  questions,  he  said :  "While  I  was  young  I  did  ask  them,  and 
now  it  is  not  my  business  to  ask  but  to  teach  what  I  have  learned.”  And 
when  the  other  retorted  "how  then  shall  a  wise  man  debate?”  he  answered : 
"Like  a  law-giver,  who  ought  first  to  convince  himself  that  he  is  right,  and 
then  to  tell  his  people  what  they  must  do.”  By  this  method  he  was  eagerly 
listened  to  at  Antioch,  and  brought  men  to  his  own  way  of  thinking  who 
had  been  utterly  opposed  to  every  sort  of  study. 


BOOK  ONE 


19 


18. 

Planning  a  longer  pilgrimage  after  these  experiences  he  resolved  to 
go  to  India  to  visit  the  Sages  there  who  are  called  Brahmins  and  Forest- 
dwellers,  for  he  said  that  a  young  man  should  leave  home  and  travel 
among  foreigners.  He  also  expected  to  learn  much  by  conferring  with  the 
Magi  at  Babylon  and  Susa  on  the  road  to  India.  On  telling  this  to  his 
disciples,  of  whom  he  had  seven,  they  used  every  argument  to  change  his 
mind,  but  he  said :  have  consulted  with  the  gods  about  my  going,  and 

I  am  telling  you  what  has  been  decided,  to  ascertain  whether  you  would 
venture  where  I  shall.  Since  you  are  faint-hearted,  farewell,  and  philoso¬ 
phize  hereabouts.  As  for  me,  I  must  go  where  desire  of  knowledge  and 
the  divine  inspiration  send  me.”  With  these  words  he  departed  from 
Antioch,  taking  as  his  only  companions  two  servants  whom  he  had  re¬ 
tained  from  his  father’s  household,  one  of  whom  wrote  rapidly,  and  the 
other  an  excellent  hand. 

19. 

Fie  came  to  ancient  Nineveh,  where  stands  a  statue  in  barbaric  cos¬ 
tume  representing  lo,  the  daughter  of  Inachus,  with  little  budding  horns 
standing  out  from  her  temples.  As  he  stood  looking  at  it  and  knowing 
more  about  that  statue  than  the  priests  and  seers  themselves,  he  was 
accosted  by  Damis,  the  Ninevite  whom  I  have  mentioned  as  being  from 
the  beginning  his  companion  in  this  pilgrimage  and  in  all  his  activities, 
and  as  having  recorded  much  of  his  history.  Marvelling  at  him,  and 
envying  his  proposed  journey,  Damis  suggested:  “Let  us  both  go,  Apol¬ 
lonius,  you  following  God  and  I  following  you.  You  will  find  me  useful, 
if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  I  know  the  road  to  Babylon,  and  all  the 
cities  on  the  way,  having  just  returned  from  there;  and  I  know  the 
villages  too,  in  which  there  are  many  things  worth  seeing;  and  then 
too  there  are  all  the  languages,  spoken  by  the  barbarians,  such  as  Arme¬ 
nians  and  Medes  and  Persians  and  Caducians ;  I  understand  them  all.” 
“I  too  understand  them  all,  my  friend,”  said  Apollonius ;  “although  I  have 
never  studied  them.”  When  Damis  expressed  surprise  at  this,  he  said : 
“Do  not  wonder  at  my  understanding  the  languages  which  men  speak,  for 
I  even  know  the  things  which  they  do  not  speak.”  On  hearing  this  the 
Assyrian  worshipped  him  and  regarded  him  as  a  superior  being;  and  he 
gained  in  wisdom  while  he  dwelt  with  him  by  laying  up  in  his  memor); 
all  he  learned.  This  Assyrian  was  only  moderately  skilled  in  rhetoric,  for 
having  been  taught  among  barbarians  his  diction  was  not  carefully 
trained,  but  he  excelled  in  taking  notes  of  lectures  and  conversations,  and 
in  describing  what  he  heard  or  saw,  and  in  making  memoranda ;  so  that 
no  one  could  equal  him  in  that  kind  of  work.  Fie  wrote  his  memoirs  with 


20 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


the  intention  that  nothing  relating  to  Apollonius  should  be  forgotten,  and 
that  whatever  he  might  say,  even  casually,  should  be  noted  down.  This 
was  the  purpose  of  his  book  which  he  entitled  “Droppings  from  the  Man¬ 
ger.”  His  reply  to  one  who  criticized  this  assiduity  of  his  is  worth  telling. 
This  indolent  and  captious  person  ridiculed  him,  saying  that  it  was  all 
well  enough  to  record  some  such  matters  as  the  deliberate  opinions  and 
teachings  of  the  Master,  but  that  making  a  collection  of  such  trifles  as  he 
did,  was  like  a  dog  licking  up  every  crumb  that  drops  from  the  table,  to 
which  Damis  answered :  “At  a  divine  banquet  where  the  gods  are  feast¬ 
ing,  undoubtedly  they  too  have  attendants  who  see  to  it  that  no  drop  of 
ambrosia  which  falls  is  wasted.”  Such  was  the  friend  and  companion 
whom  Apollonius  found  and  with  whom  he  associated  during  the  greater 
part  of  his  life. 

20. 

At  their  entrance  into  Mesopotamia  the  tax-collector  stationed  at 
the  bridge  at  Zeugma  called  them  into  his  office  and  asked  what  they 
were  bringing  into  the  country.  Apollonius  answered:  “I  am  bringing 
Temperance,  Virtue,  Justice,  Chastity,  Fortitude,  Exercise,”  stringing 
out  many  names  of  virtues,  all  of  feminine  gender;  whereupon  the 
tax-gatherer,  intent  on  revenue,  said :  “Show  me  these  maids  so  that 
I  may  set  down  their  values  in  my  books.”  Apollonius  said:  “That 
may  not  be,  for  those  are  not  maid-servants  but  their  mistresses  whom 
I  am  bringing.” 

Now  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  flowing  out  of  Armenia  from  the 
furthest  Taurus,  encompass  that  great  stretch  of  land  which  is  called 
Mesopotamia  (between  the  rivers)  for  that  reason,  and  which  contains 
some  cities  and  many  villages,  together  with  Armenian  and  Arabian  tribes 
who  wander  about  in  hordes,  believing  themselves  to  be  islanders  because 
they  are  shut  in  by  those  rivers.  They  are  accustomed  to  say  that  they 
have  gone  down  to  the  sea  when  they  come  to  the  rivers,  supposing  the 
land  enclosed  by  them  to  constitute  the  whole  world.  After  making  the 
circuit  of  that  tract  of  land  which  I  have  mentioned  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates  empty  into  the  actual  sea,  although  many  geographers  assert 
that  a  great  part  of  the  Euphrates  loses  itself  in  marshes  in  which  its 
stream  is  absorbed  by  the  earth;  and  others  adopting  a  bolder  theory 
declare  that  it  runs  underground  and  comes  to  the  surface  in  Egypt  to 
mingle  with  the  Nile.  If  I  could  make  my  account  of  their  journey 
complete  by  omitting  nothing  recorded  by  Damis,  I  would  tell  of  their 
adventures  among  those  barbarians,  but  my  limits  conflne  me  to  more  im¬ 
portant  and  memorable  events;  although  I  may  at  least  allude  to  two 
subjects;  namely,  the  fortitude  shown  by  Apollonius  in  travelling  through 


BOOK  ONE 


21 


savage  tribes  prone  to  robbery  and  not  then  subdued  by  the  Romans ;  and 
the  knowledge  which  enabled  him  to  comprehend  the  language  of  animals 
as  the  Arabs  do.  He  learned  this  accomplishment  in  journeying  among 
the  Arabs,  who  know  and  practice  the  art  with  great  skill.  Even  to  this 
day  it  is  peculiar  to  Arabs  that  they  hearken  to  the  voices  of  birds  as 
foretelling  future  events  like  oracles,  and  they  interpret  animals,  because 
as  some  say  they  eat  the  liver  of  dragons,  or  as  others  say,  the  heart. 

21. 

After  passing  Ctesiphon  and  entering  the  territory  of  Babylon,  they 
encountered  a  guard  set  by  the  king  which  no  one  was  allowed  to  pass 
without  declaring  who  he  was,  of  what  nationality  and  why  he  had  come. 
The  eunuch  commanding  this  garrison  as  satrap  was  one  of  those  who 
are  called  I  think  the  “King’s  Eyes.”  The  Median  king  who  had  recently 
possessed  himself  of  the  throne  did  not  feel  secure,  but  was  alarmed  by 
every  rumor,  true  or  false,  and  lived  in  fear  and  trembling.  Apollonius 
and  his  companion  were  therefore  brought  before  the  satrap,  who  was 
reclining  under  an  awning  stretched  over  his  litter,  being  on  the  point  of 
starting  on  some  expedition.  Seeing  a  man  covered  with  the  dust  and  tan 
of  travel  he  shrieked  like  a  timid  woman  and  hid  his  face,  not  daring  to 
look  at  Apollonius,  and  saying  “Who  has  sent  you  to  us,  and  where  do 
you  come  from?”  as  if  he  were  addressing  a  spirit.  Apollonius  replied: 
“I  have  come  of  my  own  accord  to  see  whether  anything  can  make  men 
of  you,  even  though  you  have  no  such  ambition.”  Then  the  satrap  asked 
again  who  he  was  who  dared  so  to  enter  the  king’s  dominions.  Apollonius 
replied :  “All  the  earth  is  mine,  and  I  may  journey  in  it  where  I  please.” 
The  satrap  said :  “I  will  put  you  to  the  torture  if  you  do  not  answer 
plainly.”  Apollonius  replied :  “You  may,  so  long  as  you  do  it  with  your 
own  hands,  for  you  yourself  would  be  tortured  by  handling  a  man.” 
Then  the  eunuch,  surprised  by  seeing  that  he  needed  no  interpreter  and 

■N 

was  answering  him  readily  and  easily,  said  in  a  changed  and  wheedling 
tone:  “In  the  name  of  the  gods,  who  are  you?”  Thereupon  Apollonius 
said:  “Since  you  ask  me  this  time  decently  and  not  like  a  savage,  I  will 
tell  you  who  I  am.  I  am  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  on  my  way  to  the  king 
of  the  Indians  to  learn  about  them,  but  I  would  also  like  to  meet  your 
king,  for  those  who  have  been  with  him  say  that  he  is  not  a  bad  sort,  if 
he  is  that  Vardanes  who  not  long  ago  recovered  the  kingdom  which  he  had 
lost.”  “It  is  he,  godlike  Apollonius,”  said  the  satrap,  “and  we  have  long 
heard  of  you.  The  king  will  come  down  from  his  golden  throne  itself  for 
such  a  Sage,  and  will  arrange  to  send  you  on  to  India,  each  man  mounted 
on  a  camel.  I  make  you  my  guest,  and  you  may  take  as  much  as  you  like 
of  this  wealth,  not  only  once  but  ten  times  over pointing  at  the  same 


22 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


time  to  a  treasure-chest  of  gold.  When  Apollonius  declined  the  gift,  the 
satrap  said:  “Take  at  least  this  jar  of  Babylonian  wine,  which  the  king 
sends  to  us  ten  satraps,  and  take  slices  of  roast  pork  and  antelope-meat, 
flour  and  bread,  and  anything  else  you  like,  for  from  here  you  have  a  jour¬ 
ney  of  many  stadia  through  villages  where  no  supply  of  grain  can  be  pro¬ 
cured.”  Then  recollecting  himself,  the  eunuch  went  on :  “Good  gods ! 
What  am  I  doing,  absent-mindedly  offering  this  man  a  rich  supper  when 
I  know  that  he  never  eats  flesh  nor  drinks  wine?”  “But  you  may  offer 
me  plain  food  of  bread  and  dried  fruits,”  said  Apollonius,  and  the  satrap 
said:  “Then  I  will  give  you  raised  bread  and  great  amber-colored  dates, 
and  every  vegetable  that  the  Tigris  nourishes.”  Apollonius  said:  “Herbs 
growing  wild  in  the  fields  are  really  better-flavored  than  vegetables  which 
have  been  cultivated  with  any  amount  of  care  and  skill.”  “Better-flavored 
usually,”  said  the  satrap,  “but  this  land  of  ours  about  Babylon  is  full  of 
v/ormwood  and  produces  only  bitter  and  unpalatable  herbs  without  cultiva¬ 
tion.”  So  Apollonius  accepted  the  vegetables,  and  in  taking  leave  of  the 
satrap  said  to  him :  “My  good  man,  try  not  only  to  end  well  but  to  begin 
well ;”  a  gentle  reminder  of  his  original  threats  to  torture  him,  and  of  the 
rude  words  he  had  heard  from  him  at  first. 

22. 

About  twenty  stadia  further  on,  they  came  upon  the  largest  lioness 
they  had  ever  seen,  which  had  just  been  killed  by  a  party  of  hunters  from 
a  nearby  village,  who  were  shouting  over  it  as  a  great  curiosity.  It  cer¬ 
tainly  proved  to  be  so,  for  when  ripped  open  it  was  found  to  contain  eight 
cubs.  Now  the  normal  period  of  gestation  in  lionesses  is  six  months,  and 
each  lioness  produces  only  three  litters  in  her  life,  having  three  cubs  in  the 
first  litter,  two  in  the  second  and  only  one  cub  in  the  third,  which  is  said 
to  be  unusually  large  and  fierce.  No  credence  should  be  given  to  the  fable 
that  young  lions  gnaw  their  way  out  of  the  womb  through  their  mother’s 
body,  for  the  natural  instinct  to  preserve  the  race  is  common  to  all  parents 
and  their  offspring.  After  silently  observing  the  beast  for  some  time, 
Apollonius  said  to  Damis :  “We  shall  spend  one  year  and  eight  months  of 
our  pilgrimage  with  the  king  of  this  country,  for  he  will  not  let  us  go 
sooner;  and  besides  it  will  be  for  our  advantage  to  make  that  stay.  The 
cubs  stand  for  the  eight  months  and  the  lioness  for  the  year,  as  perfect 
things  are  to  be  compared  with  perfect.”  “Why  is  that?”  asked  Damis; 
“for  Homer  tells  us  that  eight  fledgling  sparrows  were  eaten  by  a  serpent 
in  Aulis,  and  that  the  mother  eaten  after  them  made  nine ;  and  that  Calchas 
drew  from  them  the  prediction  that  Troy  would  be  taken  after  nine  years 
had  gone  by.  So  take  care  that  our  stay  be  not  prolonged  to  nine  years  on 
the  same  calculation  as  Homer  and  Calchas  made !”  Apollonius  an- 


BOOK  ONE 


23 


swered :  ‘‘Homer  was  quite  right  in  likening  the  young  sparrows  to 
years,  for  they  had  been  hatched  and  were  living,  but  how  should  I  liken 
to  years  these  incomplete  and  unborn  creatures  which  perhaps  would  never 
have  been  brought  forth?  For  such  abnormal  embryos  are  born  with  diffi¬ 
culty  and  soon  die.  Trust  to  my  prediction  then,  and  let  us  go  forward, 
thanking  the  gods  for  this  omen.” 

23. 

Being  now  come  into  the  Cissian  district  and  drawing  near  Babylon, 
some  god  sent  Apollonius  in  his  sleep  a  vision  of  fishes  dragged  out  of  the 
water  and  flapping  about  on  the  beach,  wailing  and  lamenting  their  ab¬ 
sence  from  home  in  human  speech,  and  begging  for  help  from  a  dolphin 
passing  near  the  shore,  as  pitifully  as  men  in  a  foreign  land.  Unperturbed 
by  this  dream,  Apollonius  fathomed  its  meaning  and  purpose  at  once,  but 
to  frighten  the  timid  Damis  he  told  it  to  him,  pretending  to  fear  that  it 
portended  evil.  Damis  began  to  cry  out  as  if  he  had  dreamed  it  himself, 
and  besought  Apollonius  to  journey  no  further,  “or  we  too,”  as  he  said, 
“may  die  far  from  home  like  those  fish,  bewailing  our  woes  in  a  strange 
land,  and  uselessly  begging  some  chief  or  king  to  avert  our  doom,  while 
he  ignores  us  as  the  dolphin  did  the  fish !”  Apollonius  answered  smilingly : 
“You  are  not  yet  a  philosopher  if  you  entertain  such  fears.  Now  I  will 
interpret  the  dream  to  you.  There  are  Eretrian  Greeks  living  in  this  Cissian 
district  who  were  brought  here  out  of  Euboea  by  Darius  five  hundred 
years  ago,  after  being  captured  like  the  fishes  in  the  vision,  for  they  were 
surrounded  by  nets  and  taken  in  that  way.  Now  that  I  have  come  where 
they  are  the  gods  evidently  are  laying  on  me  the  duty  of  helping  them  as 
much  as  I  can.  Perhaps  too  the  souls  of  the  original  Greeks  who  suffered 
that  misfortune  are  pleading  with  me  to  aid  their  descendants  in  this 
region.  So  we  will  turn  aside  from  our  road  and  look  for  that  lonely  well 
around  which  they  live.”  This  well  is  said  to  yield  a  mixture  of  bitumen 
and  oil  and  water,  which  when  drawn  and  left  standing  will  settle  and 
separate  themselves.  Apollonius  himself  speaks  of  this  expedition  of  his 
into  Cissia  in  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  a  sophist  of  Clazomene ;  for  he 
was  so  thoughtful  and  humane  that  after  seeing  those  Eretrians  there  he 
remembered  the  sophist,  and  wrote  to  tell  him  what  he  had  seen,  and  what 
he  had  done  for  them ;  and  throughout  the  entire  letter  hq  urges  him  to 
sympathize  with  these  Eretrians,  and  not  to  withhold  his  tears  when  he 
tells  of  them  in  his  speeches. 

24. 

Damis’  account  of  the  Eretrians  agrees  with  this  letter.  They  live  in 
Media  no  further  from  Babylon  than  a  runner  could  cover  in  one  day. 
The  district  has  no  cities,  for  all  Cissia  lives  in  villages,  except  a  tribe 


24 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


of  nomads,  who  hardly  ever  dismount  from  their  horses.  The  area  inhab¬ 
ited  by  the  Eretrians  is  in  the  heart  of  the  district  and  is  surrounded  by 
a  moat  filled  from  the  river,  which  they  themselves  are  said  to  have  dug 
around  their  village  to  protect  them  from  the  barbarians  living  in  Cissia. 
Their  bituminous  soil  produces  bitter  crops,  and  the  men  there  are  very 
short-lived,  for  the  water  charged  with  bitumen  has  the  effect  of  clogging 
the  bowels.  A  ridge  adjoining  the  village  and  rising  above  the  alkaline 
flats  gave  them  their  food  supply,  for  they  sow  it  and  consider  it  their  own 
land.  Damis  says  that  according  to  the  people  there  780  Eretrians  were 
captured,  not  all  capable  of  bearing  arms,  for  there  were  women  and  old 
men  in  the  number,  and  children,  too,  I  believe;  but  that  most  of  the 
Eretrians  had  made  their  escape  into  Caphareus  and  the  recesses  of  the 
Euboean  mountains.  Of  those  taken,  only  about  400  men  and  ten  women 
reached  Cissia,  the  rest  having  perished  in  their  forced  march  through 
the  mountains  of  Ionia  and  Lydia.  As  their  ridge  afforded  them  a  quarry, 
and  there  were  some  good  stone-cutters  among  them,  they  built  themselves 
temples  after  the  Greek  model,  and  a  market-place  large  enough  for  their 
needs,  and  they  erected  altars,  two  to  Darius,  one  to  Xerxes,  and  several 
to  Daridseus.  They  reckoned  the  years  from  their  captivity  down  to 
Daridseus  as  eighty-eight,  according  to  Greek  computation;  and  their 
antique  tombs  are  inscribed  as  in  Greece :  ‘‘So-and-so,  son  of  such-a-one,” 
and  the  inscriptions  are  in  Greek  letters,  though  Damis  says  they  do  not 
understand  them  now.  There  were  ships  carved  on  the  tombs  of  those 
immigrants  who  in  Euboea  had  been  gatherers  or  dyers  of  Tyrian  purple, 
or  ferrymen,  or  sailors ;  and  they  read  the  following  epitaph  inscribed 
on  the  sepulchre  of  certain  seafaring  men  and  shipmasters : 

“We  who  once  ploughed  the  deep  ^gean  Sea 

Now  rest  entombed  in  Persia’s  dreary  land. 

Farewell,  Eretria,  best-beloved  and  free; 

Farewell  Euboea’s  neighbor  Athens :  thee 

We  see  no  more,  nor  thee,  our  native  strand.” 

Damis  reports  that  Apollonius  rebuilt  the  ruined  tombs  and  enclosed 
them,  and  poured  libations,  and  made  all  customary  offerings  for  the 
dead,  save  only  the  slaughtering  and  burning  of  victims :  then  shedding 
tears  and  deeply  moved  he  said  in  the  midst  of  the  assembled  people: 
“Eretrians,  driven  hither  by  the  scourge  of  fate,  ye  are  properly  en¬ 
tombed  at  last,  though  far  from  your  fatherland:  but  the  tyrants  who 
forced  you  away  died  unburied  around  your  island  in  the  tenth  year  of 
your  exile ;  and  their  undoing  in  the  Gulf  of  Euboea  was  the  retribution  of 
the  gods  for  you.”  In  a  postscript  to  the  letter  which  he  sent  to  the  sophist 
he  wrote :  “While  still  a  young  man,  I  looked  after  those  Eretrians  of 


BOOK  ONE 


25 


yours,  Scopelianus,  and  did  all  I  could  for  their  living  and  their  dead.” 
What  help  did  he  give  to  the  living?  The  barbarians  near  the  ridge,  after 
the  Eretrians  had  planted  it,  made  a  practice  of  carrying  off  the  crops  in 
summer,  so  that  they  were  farming  for  other  people  and  were  left  without 
food  themselves.  Now  when  Apollonius  came  to  the  king  he  obtained  pro¬ 
tection  for  them  in  the  exclusive  use  of  that  ridge. 

25. 

Concerning  Babylon  itself  and  his  doings  there  I  find  the  following 
particulars  worthy  of  note.  Babylon  is  encircled  by  a  wall  four  hundred 
and  eighty  stadia^  in  circumference,  a  plethron^  and  a  half  high  and  half 
a  plethron  thick.  The  Euphrates  divides  the  city  into  two  equal  parts, 
and  a  subway  is  carried  under  the  river  to  connect  by  a  private  passage 
the  royal  palaces  built  on  opposite  sides.  A  Median  empress,  who  formerly 
reigned  there,  spanned  the  river  in  this  way,  as  no  river  was  ever  spanned 
before.  Having  collected  in  readiness  stones,  copper,  bitumen,  and  all  other 
materials  known  to  man  for  resisting  the  pressure  of  water,  she  piled 
them  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  diverted  the  whole  stream  into  marshes, 
and  excavated  a  trench  twelve  feet  deep  across  the  channel  thus  laid  bare, 
to  make  a  tunnel  through  which  she  might  descend  from  the  upper  world 
and  pass  over  to  her  palaces  from  one  shore  to  the  other.  She  arched  this 
trench  over  on  a  level  with  the  river-bottom,  and  when  the  foundations, 
walls,  and  roof  of  the  passage  were  built,  as  bitumen  is  hardened  and 
toughened  by  contact  with  water  the  Euphrates  was  turned  back  over  its 
sticky  roof,  and  so  the  tunnel  was  finished.  The  palace  roofs  are  sheathed 
with  polished  copper,  which  seems  to  emit  rays  by  its  own  brilliance,  and 
the  bed-chambers  and  banqueting-halls  and  porticos  are  decorated  in  silver 
and  cloth  of  gold,  and  with  beaten  gold,  instead  of  paintings.  The  figures 
in  their  tapestries  are  taken  from  Greek  myths,  Andromeda  and  Amymon, 
and  especially  Orpheus,  who  is  a  great  favorite  with  them,  presumably 
because  of  his  tiara  and  his  trousers,  but  certainly  not  for  his  skill  in  music 
or  his  magical  songs.  Datis,  too,  is  depicted  there  tearing  up  the  island 
of  Naxos  from  its  roots  in  the  sea;  and  Artaphernes  besieging  Eretria,  and 
the  boasted  triumphs  of  Xerxes  at  the  capture  of  Athens  and  at  Ther¬ 
mopylae;  and  also  other  subjects  more  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  Medes, 
such  as  rivers  lifted  above  the  ground,  and  the  bridging  of  the  Hellespont, 
and  the  piercing  of  Mount  Athos.  Damis  tells  of  their  entering  the  great 
hall,  whose  vaulted  ceiling  imitates  the  sky  and  is  covered  with  sapphires 
of  celestial  blue,  overlaid  with  images  of  their  gods,  done  in  gold  and 
shining  out  from  that  background  as  if  floating  in  air.  The  king  usually 


^  1  sta(lium==6  plethra. 

*  1  plethron=100  ft.  approx. 


26 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


holds  his  court  in  this  hall,  and  four  golden  wry-necks  hung  from  the  ceil¬ 
ing,  which  birds  are  symbolical  of  the  goddess  of  retribution,  to  admonish 
the  king  not  to  exalt  himself  above  mankind.  The  Magi  who  frequent  the 
palace  claim  to  have  suspended  these  there,  and  call  them  the  tongues  of 
the  gods. 

26. 

Apollonius  himself  has  told  all  that  is  necessary  about  the  Magi,  how  he 
conversed  with  them,  and  learned  some  things  from  them,  and  taught 
them  some.  Damis  says  that  he  did  not  know  the  nature  of  the  discussions 
which  the  Master  had  with  the  Magi,  for  he  had  been  forbidden  to  accom¬ 
pany  him  when  he  went  to  them,  but  he  reports  that  they  met  every  day 
at  noon  and  at  midnight,  and  that  once  when  he  asked  Apollonius  what 
he  thought  of  them,  he  answered :  “They  are  certainly  wise,  but  they  are 
not  wise  on  every  subject.” 

27. 

However,  we  shall  see  more  of  them  later.  On  his  entering  Babylon 
the  satrap  commanding  the  guard  at  the  great  gate,  on  learning  that  he 
came  to  visit  the  city,  tendered  to  him  a  golden  image  of  the  king  to  be 
worshipped,  without  which  ceremony  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter.  Only 
ambassadors  of  the  Roman  emperor  were  exempted,  but  any  one  else  com¬ 
ing  from  the  barbarians,  or  to  see  the  city,  was  arrested  ignominiously  if 
he  did  not  adore  the  image.  Such  are  the  preposterous  regulations  which 
those  officers  are  required  to  enforce  among  barbarians.  On  seeing  the 
image  Apollonius  asked:  “Who  is  that?”  and  on  being  told  that  it  repre¬ 
sented  the  king,  he  said:  “Well,  if  this  man  whom  you  worship  shall  earn 
my  regard  as  a  good  man,  it  will  certainly  be  a  great  honor  to  him.”  With 
these  words  he  was  passing  on  through  the  gate  when  the  astonished  satrap 
overtook  and  grasped  him,  and  asked  through  an  interpreter  what  was  his 
name  and  country,  and  his  vocation,  and  why  he  had  come.  After  noting 
his  answers  on  a  tablet,  with  a  description  of  his  person  and  costume,  he 
ordered  him  to  wait,  while  he  himself  hastened  to  those  men  who  are 
called  “the  King’s  Ears,”  and  told  them  of  him,  and  how  he  had  refused  to 
worship  the  image,  and  was  not  like  any  other  of  mankind ;  whereupon  they 
directed  the  officer  to  bring  the  traveller  before  them,  but  in  an  honorable 
manner  and  without  affront. 

28. 

On  his  appearing  before  them,  the  oldest  among  them  asked  him  why 
he  had  slighted  the  king,  and  he  answered :  “I  have  not  slighted  him  yet.” 
Being  then  asked  if  he  intended  to  slight  him  thereafter,  he  answered :  “I 
certainly  shall  do  so,  if  after  conversing  with  him  I  find  him  not  to  be  a 


BOOK  ONE 


27 


good  and  decent  man.”  When  asked  what  gifts  he  had  brought  to  the  king, 
he  named  over  constancy  and  justice  and  other  virtues,  and  they  asked: 
“Do  you  bring  him  those  gifts  because  he  lacks  them?”  “Not  at  all,”  said 
he,  “but  so  that  he  may  learn  how  to  use  them  if  he  has  them.”  They  re¬ 
joined:  “It  was  by  using  them  that  he  recovered  this  kingdom  which  you 
see,  after  he  had  lost  it ;  and  he  restored  his  dynasty,  not  without  toil  and 
trouble.”  Apollonius  asked  how  long  it  was  since  he  had  recovered  the 
throne,  and  they  replied :  “Three  years  lacking  two  months.”  Then  with 
his  characteristic  exaltation  of  mind  Apollonius  said:  “O  keeper  of  the 
king’s  person,  or  whatever  it  befits  you  to  be  called,  when  Darius,  the  father 
of  Artaxerxes  and  of  Cyrus,  had  held  this  throne  for  about  sixty  years,  and 
felt  the  end  of  his  life  drawing  near,  he  is  said  to  have  sacrificed  to  Justice, 
invoking-  her  as  ‘Lady  and  Mistress,  whosoever  you  may  be !’  as  if  conscious 
that  though  he  had  sought  justice  long,  he  did  not  know  her,  nor  think  he 
had  attained  her ;  and  he  brought  up  his  sons  so  unwisely  that  they  waged 
war  upon  each  other,  in  which  one  of  the  brothers  was  wounded  and  the 
other  was  slain.  Yet  this  present  monarch,  who  has  hardly  had  time  to 
learn  how  to  sit  on  his  royal  throne,,  you  imagine  to  have  acquired  all  the 
virtues,  and  you  magnify  him,  although  it  would  be  better,  not  for  me,  but 
for  yourselves,  to  try  to  improve  him.”  At  that,  the  barbarian  stared  at  the 
man  next  him,  and  said:  “Some  god  brings  this  man  here  as  an  unhoped¬ 
for  gift,  for  our  good  king  by  association  with  his  excellence  will  become 
much  kinder  to  us,  and  more  gentle  and  forbearing,  because  this  man 
radiates  those  qualities.”  They  entered  the  inner  palace  forthwith  and 
carried  the  welcome  news  that  before  the  doors  stood  a  Greek  who  was  a 
wise  man  and  an  incomparable  adviser. 

29. 

At  the  time  this  word  was  brought  to  the  king  he  was  ofifering  sacri¬ 
fice  in  the  presence  of  the  Magi,  who  direct  all  such  religious  ceremonies ; 
and  summoning  one  of  them  he  said :  “That  dream  has  come  true  which  I 
told  you  of  this  morning  when  you  came  to  my  bedside  to  salute  me.” 
Now  the  king’s  dream  was,  that  he  imagined  himself  to  be  Artaxerxes,  the 
son  of  Xerxes,  and  to  have  been  transformed  into  his  likeness,  from  which 
he  greatly  feared  that  some  change  of  fortune  was  impending,  for  so  he 
interpreted  that  change  of  his  shape.  When  he  heard  that  the  new  arrival 
was  a  Greek  and  a  Sage,  he  called  to  mind  how  Themistocles  the  Athenian 
had  come  from  Greece  in  former  days  to  dwell  with  Artaxerxes,  and  had 
brought  him  to  great  honor  while  showing  his  own  worth ;  wherefore 
stretching  out  his  right  hand,  he  cried :  “Call  him  in !  It  will  be  a  good 
beginning  for  him  to  join  me  in  sacrifice  and  prayer!” 


28 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


30. 

Then  Apollonius  entered,  followed  by  a  long  train  of  persons  who 
thought  to  please  the  king  by  so  doing,  as  they  knew  that  he  was  gratified 
by  receiving  this  new  guest.  In  passing  through  the  palace  he  did  not 
even  glance  at  any  of  those  objects  which  usually  attract  men’s  attention, 
but  kept  steadily  on  as  if  travelling,  and  he  said  to  Damis :  ‘‘You  asked 
me  not  long  ago  what  was  the  name  of  the  woman  in  Pamphylia  who  was 
a  close  friend  of  Sappho,  and  who  is  said  to  have  composed  those  hymns 
in  the  .T^olian  and  Pamphylian  modes  which  are  still  sung  in  honor  of  the 
Pergean  Artemis.”  Damis  replied :  “I  did  ask  it,  but  you  did  not  tell  me.” 
Apollonius  said :  “I  did  not  tell  you  the  name,  my  friend;  but  I  explained 
fully  to  you  the  structure  and  words  of  the  hymns,  and  how  the  ^olian 
mode  developed  into  that  most  stately  measure  used  by  the  Pamphylians. 
Then  our  conversation  turned  to  some  other  subject,  and  you  did  not  repeat 
the  question.  That  accomplished  woman  was  named  Damophyle,  and  she 
is  said  to  have  had  a  company  of  maidens  like  Sappho,  and  to  have  com¬ 
posed  love-songs  as  well  as  hymns.  In  her  hymn  to  Artemis  she  imitated 
Sappho,  and  it  is  sung  like  the  Sapphic  odes.”  He  showed  thus  how  far  he 
was  from  being  overawed  by  the  display  and  magnificence  of  the  king, 
when  he  did  not  bestow  a  glance  upon  their  splendors,  but  spoke  of  other 
matters  as  if  only  they  were  before  his  eyes. 

31. 

The  king  saw  him  coming  at  a  distance,  for  the  hall  of  sacrifice  was 
of  great  dimension,  and  he  made  some  remark  to  his  attendants  indicating 
that  he  recognized  the  man.  Then  when  he  drew  nearer  the  king  ex¬ 
claimed  to  them :  “This  is  Apollonius,  whom  my  brother  Megabates  says  he 
saw  at  Antioch,  the  object  of  the  greatest  honor  and  reverence  of  all  good 
men  there,  and  he  described  him  to  me  just  as  we  see  him  now!”  After 
Apollonius  had  come  up  and  made  his  salutation  the  king  addressed  him 
in  Greek,  directing  him  to  sacrifice  with  him ;  for  he  was  about  to  slaughter 
in  honor  of  the  Sun  one  of  the  finest  white  horses  of  the  Nisaean  breed, 
decked  with  golden  trappings  as  if  for  a  procession.  “Sacrifice  in  your  own 
way,  O  King,  but  let  me  sacrifice  in  mine,”  replied  Apollonius.  Then  taking 
incense  he  prayed:  “O  Sun,  conduct  me  over  so  much  of  the  earth  as  to 
thee  and  me  seems  best,  and  make  me  everywhere  to  know  good  men ;  but 
let  me  not  know  evil  men,  nor  let  them  know  me.”  With  these  words  he 
threw  the  incense  on  the  altar-fire,  noting  closely  how  it  divided  itself,  and 
how  it  smoked,  and  where  and  in  how  many  places  it  burned  up  in  jets  of 
flame ;  then  perceiving  how  the  fire  showed  clear  and  auspicious,  he  said : 
“O  King,  go  on  now  to  perform  your  sacrifice  after  the  custom  of  your 


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29 


country,  for  my  customs  are  these,”  and  he  withdrew  at  once  from  the 
room,  to  have  no  complicity  in  bloodshed. 

32. 

Returning  when  the  sacrifice  was  ended,  he  asked :  ‘'O  King,  do  you 
know  the  Greek  language  thoroughly,  or  only  so  much  as  may  suffice  for 
a  little  conversation,  not  to  appear  discourteous  to  any  Greek  who  may 
come  here?”  “Thoroughly,”  said  the  king,  “as  well  as  I  do  my  native 
tongue  of  this  land.  So  tell  me  what  your  plans  are,  for  that  I  think  is  why 
you  ask  the  question.”  “You  are  right,”  said  Apollonius,  “so  listen  to 
them.  The  Indians  are  the  objective  point  of  my  journey,  but  I  was  un¬ 
willing  to  pass  you  by ;  especially  as  I  had  heard  that  you  were  such  a  man 
as  I  now  perceive  you  to  be,  even  on  this  short  acquaintance.  I  also  wished 
to  investigate  that  wisdom  which  has  been  acquired  by  the  Magi  among 
your  people,  and  to  learn  whether  they  are  as  versed  in  knowledge  of  the 
divine  as  they  are  reported  to  be.  The  father  of  my  philosophy  was  Pythag¬ 
oras  the  Samian,  who  has  taught  me  my  method  of  worshipping  the  gods, 
and  to  apprehend  them  by  my  mind  whether  they  are  appearing  visibly  or 
not ;  and  to  converse  with  them ;  and  to  wear  a  linen  garment  made  from  a 
fleece  which  is  grown  from  the  ground,  instead  of  that  shorn  from  sheep, 
for  it  springs  pure  from  the  pure,  as  the  gift  of  earth  and  water.  I  have 
also  adopted  the  practice  of  wearing  my  hair  long  by  the  teaching  of 
Pythagoras,  and  my  abstinence  from  animal  food  is  due  to  the  same  wis¬ 
dom.  Because  of  these  peculiarities  I  could  never  be  a  boon-companion  or 
a  sharer  in  ease  and  luxury  with  you  or  any  one  else ;  but  I  will  undertake 
for  you  the  solution  of  difficult  and  intricate  questions  of  policy,  for  I  not 
only  recognize  the  right  course  when  I  see  it,  but  I  can  predict  it  in  ad¬ 
vance.”  These  were  the  Master’s  words  to  the  king,  as  reported  by  Damis, 
and  Apollonius  gives  the  same  account  in  one  of  his  letters,  as  he  also 
repeated  in  his  letters  many  of  his  other  discourses. 

33. 

The  king  assured  him  that  he  rejoiced  and  gloried  in  his  coming  more 
than  if  he  had  added  the  riches  of  Persia  and  the  Indies  to  his  own,  and 
that  he  wished  him  to  be  his  guest,  and  an  inmate  of  the  palace.  Apollonius 
asked  him:  “If  you  should  come  to  my  country  of  Tyana,  O  King,  and  I 
invited  you  to  stay  at  my  house,  would  you  do  so?”  “By  no  means,”  said 
the  king,  “unless  the  house  were  large  enough  to  accommodate  my  atten¬ 
dants  and  my  guards,  as  well  as  myself.”  “I  must  answer  your  invitation 
in  the  same  way,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  if  I  should  be  housed  unsuitably 
to  my  condition  I  would  live  uncomfortably.  Superfluity  galls  philosophers 
more  than  deficiency  would  you.  So  let  some  private  citizen  lodge  me,  who 
has  what  I  am  used  to,  and  I  will  spend  as  much  time  with  you  as  you  like.” 


30 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


34. 

The  king  yielded  lest  he  might  annoy  him  by  persisting,  and  Apol¬ 
lonius  found  lodgings  with  a  respectable  Babylonian  of  good  family.  While 
they  were  at  supper  one  of  those  eunuchs  who  carry  the  royal  messages 
came  to  the  Master  and  said :  “The  king  offers  you  ten  gifts,  and  leaves 
their  selection  to  you,  so  that  you  may  be  suited.  He  only  stipulates  that 
you  do  not  ask  for  anything  of  small  value,  for  he  wishes  to  give  to  you 
and  to  us  a  proof  of  his  munificence.”  After  expressing  gratitude  for  the 
offer,  Apollonius  asked  when  he  was  to  express  his  wishes,  and  the  mes¬ 
senger  replied  “tomorrow and  went  in  haste  to  invite  all  friends  and 
kinsmen  of  the  king  to  be  present  to  witness  the  requests  to  be  made,  and 
the  honors  to  be  heaped  upon  the  Master.  Damis  says  that  he  felt  quite 
sure  that  Apollonius  would  ask  for  nothing,  knowing  his  character  and 
that  his  customary  prayer  was :  “O  ye  gods,  grant  me  to  have  little  and  to 
stand  in  need  of  nothing;”  and  yet,  when  he  saw  him  meditating  and 
apparently  absorbed  in  thought,  he  fancied  that  he  intended  to  ask  the  king 
for  something  and  was  considering  what  it  should  be.  Later  in  the  evening 
he  said  to  Damis :  “I  am  wondering  why  the  barbarians  suppose  eunuchs 
to  be  chaste,  and  admit  them  to  their  harems.”  “Why,  any  boy  knows  that, 
Apollonius,”  said  Damis;  “the  harems  are  open  to  them,  even  if  they 
should  try  to  lie  with  the  women,  because  a  surgical  operation  has  de¬ 
prived  them  of  the  power  of  intercourse.”  The  Master  asked :  “Do  you 
think  that  they  have  been  deprived  of  passion,  or  merely  of  the  power  to 
gratify  it?”  “Of  both,”  said  Damis,  “for  after  those  organs  have  been 
removed  by  which  the  body  is  excited,  passion  cannot  attack  anyone.” 
After  a  short  pause  the  Master  said :  “You  will  find  out  tomorrow,  Damis, 
that  even  eunuchs  have  passions,  and  that  the  desire  of  the  eyes  has  not 
been  extinguished  in  them,  but  remains  hot  and  smouldering;  for  some¬ 
thing  is  going  to  happen  which  will  disprove  your  theory.  Even  if  there 
were  any  human  skill  so  sovereign  and  effective  as  to  expel  such  thoughts 
from  the  mind,  I  would  not  for  all  that  call  eunuchs  chaste,  when  they  are 
merely  forced  to  abstain  by  some  necessity,  and  are  deprived  of  passion  by 
a  compulsory  operation.  Chastity  is  shown  when  a  man  has  desires  and  is 
tempted  by  his  senses,  but  nevertheless  refrains  from  indulging  them,  and 
controls  himself,  rising  superior  to  his  passions.”  Damis  replied:  “We 
can  consider  those  questions  some  other  time,  Apollonius;  but  just  now 
you  must  decide  what  answer  to  give  tomorrow  to  that  splendid  offer  of  the 
king.  Very  likely  you  will  not  ask  for  anything,  but  remember  in  what 
land  we  are,  and  that  we  are  entirely  at  his  mercy;  and  beware  lest  you 
seem  to  reject  his  gifts  from  some  false  pride.  You  should  prevent  any 
such  unjust  suspicion  of  treating  him  with  disdain,  and  then  too  you  should 


BOOK  ONE 


31 


reflect  that  although  our  resources  are  enough  to  take  us  to  India  they  will 
not  bring  us  back,  and  we  have  no  other  way  of  readily  getting  more.” 
With  these  plausible  arguments  he  sought  to  induce  Apollonius  not  to 
refuse  the  king’s  bounty. 

35. 

As  if  yielding  to  his  persuasion,  Apollonius  remarked :  “Are  you  going 
to  leave  out  the  examples  of  other  philosophers,  Damis?  For  instance, 
^schines  the  son  of  Lysanias  sailed  all  the  way  to  Dionysius  in  Sicily  to 
get  money ;  and  Plato  is  said  to  have  dared  the  passage  of  Charybdis  three 
times  for  the  sake  of  Sicilian  wealth;  and  Aristippus  of  Gyrene,  and 
Helicon  of  Cyzicus,  and  Phyto  the  fugitive  from  Rhegium,  all  dived  so 
deeply  into  the  treasure- vaults  of  Dionysius  that  they  could  hardly  come  up 
again.  Then  too  they  say  that  Eudoxus  the  Cnidian  once  journeyed  to 
Egypt  for  the  express  purpose  of  getting  money  there,  and  wrangled  over 
it  with  the  king ;  and  not  to  traduce  any  more  philosophers,  Speusippus  the 
Athenian  was  said  to  be  so  mercenary  that  when  he  attended  the  wedding 
of  Cassander  in  Macedonia  he  collected  money  from  the  guests  for  reciting 
to  them  his  insipid  verses.  It  seems  to  me,  Damis,  that  a  philosopher  is  ex¬ 
posed  to  worse  dangers  than  sailors  or  warriors  are ;  for  malice  calumniates 
him,  whether  he  is  silent  or  he  speaks,  whether  he  is  earnest  or  remiss, 
whether  he  is  seeking  or  satisfied,  whether  he  salutes  some  one  or  does  not. 
Such  a  man  must  therefore  always  be  on  his  guard,  and  should  remember 
that  if  a  philosopher  indulges  in  laziness  or  irritability  or  wine  or  women 
or  any  other  similar  impropriety  he  may  perhaps  be  excused,  but  if  he  shows 
himself  eager  for  money  he  will  never  be  pardoned,  but  will  be  shunned 
as  one  addicted  to  all  other  vices  as  well ;  the  argument  being  that  he  would 
not  crave  money  except  to  gratify  his  appetites  for  dainties  and  dress 
and  drink  and  debauchery.  Perhaps  you  think  that  it  is  a  less  offense  to 
err  in  Babylon  than  in  Athens  or  Olympia  or  Delphi,  forgetting  that  for 
the  philosopher  Greece  is  everywhere,  and  that  to  him  no  country  is  de¬ 
serted  or  barbarous,  where  he  lives  within  the  sight  of  Virtue;  and  though 
he  sees  few  men  about  him  he  is  watched  by  myriads  of  eyes.  Now  if 
your  companion  was  an  athlete,  Damis,  such  as  a  wrestler  or  boxer,  who 
intended  to  compete  at  the  Olympic  games  or  in  Arcadia,  would  you  wish 
him  to  be  sound  and  strong?  Of  if  the  Pythian  or  Nemsean  games  were 
coming  on,  would  you  expect  him  to  go  into  training  for  them,  because 
those  are  all  famous  contests  held  at  well-known  places  in  Greece?  but  if 
Philip  should  institute  similar  games  for  the  cities  he  had  taken,  or  if  his 
son  Alexander  should  do  the  like  to  commemorate  his  victories,  would  you 
wish  your  friend  to  train  less  diligently,  and  to  be  careless  about  winning, 
because  he  was  going  to  compete  at  Olynthus,  or  in  Macedon,  or  Egypt, 


32 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


instead  of  before  Greeks  in  Greek  arenas?”  Damis  says  that  he  was  so 
overcome  by  this  reasoning  that  he  was  ashamed  of  what  he  had  said,  and 
asked  pardon  of  Apollonius  for  his  presumption  in  so  advising  and  urging 
him,  without  due  regard  for  his  character.  But  Apollonius,  stopping  him, 
said:  “Never  mind  !  I  did  not  mean  to  reprove  you  by  speaking  so  to  you, 
but  to  make  my  position  clear  to  you.” 

36. 

When  a  eunuch  came  to  summon  him  to  the  king’s  audience  he  re¬ 
turned  the  answer :  “I  will  com^e  as  soon  as  my  religious  rites  have  been 
duly  performed ;”  and  accordingly  after  completing  his  offerings  and 
prayers  he  proceeded  to  the  palace,  attracting  everyone’s  notice  by  his 
appearance.  On  his  entrance  the  king  said :  “I  grant  you  ten  gifts,  for  I 
think  you  such  a  man  as  never  yet  came  here  out  of  Greece.”  Apollonius 
replied :  “I  do  not  refuse  all  of  them,  O  King,  for  I  will  gladly  accept 
one  gift  more  pleasing  to  me  than  many  times  ten  others.”  Thereupon  he 
recounted  the  history  of  the  Eretrians,  beginning  with  Datis,  and  went  on : 
“I  ask  then  that  these  poor  people  be  not  driven  from  their  lands  and  their 
ridge,  and  that  they  may  have  undisturbed  possession  of  that  area  which 
Darius  allotted  to  them;  for  it  is  not  right  that  after  being  dragged  from 
their  fatherland  they  should  not  be  left  in  possession  of  even  the  wretched 
patch  of  ground  which  was  granted  to  them  in  exchange.”  The  king  nodded 
assent,  saying:  “Until  today  those  Eretrians  have  been  foes  to  me  and 
to  my  predecessors,  for  they  began  the  war  originally,  and  they  have  been 
disregarded  in  the  hope  that  all  their  tribe  would  disappear.  Henceforward 
they  are  on  the  list  of  my  friends,  and  I  will  set  over  them  as  a  satrap  a 
good  man,  who  will  protect  their  rights  in  the  land.  But  why  do  you  not 
accept  the  other  nine  gifts  ?”  Apollonius  answered :  “Because  I  have  not 
yet  made  any  friends  here,  O  King.”  And  on  the  king  asking  if  he  needed 
nothing  for  himself,  he  replied :  “Yes,  dried  fruits  and  bread,  which  to  me 
are  sweet  and  wholesome  fare.” 

37. 

At  this  point  in  the  conversation  a  confused  clamor  of  eunuchs  and 
women  was  heard  in  the  palace,  for  a  eunuch  had  been  taken  lying  with 
one  of  the  royal  concubines  and  acting  like  an  adulterer,  wherefore  the 
custodians  of  the  harem  were  dragging  him  out  by  the  hair,  as  the  king’s 
slaves  in  disgrace  are  usually  treated.  When  the  chief  eunuch  reported 
to  the  king  that  he  had  noticed  for  some  time  an  undue  familiarity  of  the 
culprit  with  that  woman,  and  had  warned  him  not  to  speak  with  her,  nor 
touch  her  neck  or  her  hand,  nor  pay  any  more  attention  to  her  than  to  any 
of  the  other  women,  but  that  now  he  had  been  caught  lying  with  her  and 


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33 


trying  to  play  the  man,  Apollonius  looked  at  Damis  to  remind  him  that 
this  settled  the  question  between  them  whether  or  not  even  eunuchs  could 
feel  the  tender  passion.  But  the  king  said  to  those  standing  near:  “It 
would  be  a  shame,  gentlemen,  if  when  Apollonius  is  with  us  we  should 
undertake  to  decide  a  question  of  morals,  without  referring  it  to  him. 
What  punishment  then,  Apollonius,  do  you  require  this  criminal  to  under¬ 
go?”  “What  else  but  that  he  should  live  on?”  was  the  unexpected  answer 
of  Apollonius.  The  king  flushing  up  said :  “Does  not  the  wretch  who  has 
crept  thus  into  my  bed  deserve  the  penalty  of  death  many  times  over?” 
Apollonius  replied :  “I  did  not  suggest  any  leniency  for  him,  O  King,  but 
the  punishment  of  a  lingering  death.  For  if  he  drags  out  a  miserable  exist¬ 
ence,  longing  for  impossibilities,  he  will  care  for  neither  food  nor  drink, 
nor  for  those  shows  which  you  and  your  household  take  delight  in ;  and 
he  will  start  from  sleep  with  palpitating  heart,  an  affliction  to  which 
those  in  love  are  especially  subject.  What  disease  could  waste  him  like 
that,  or  what  starvation  could  so  gnaw  at  his  vitals?  Unless  he  clings 
to  life  at  every  cost  he  will  beg  the  boon  of  death  from  you,  or  will  kill 
himself,  for  never  will  he  cease  to  curse  this  day  on  which  he  has  not 
been  allowed  to  die  quickly.”  Such  was  the  wise  and  moderate  opinion 
of  Apollonius,  and  in  accordance  with  it  the  king  ordered  that  the  eunuch 
might  live. 

38. 

Soon  after,  when  the  king  was  planning  a  hunt  in  the  parks  in  which 
lions,  bears  and  leopards  are  preserved  by  those  barbarians,  he  invited 
Apollonius  to  take  part  in  it,  but  he  replied :  “O  King,  have  you  forgotten 
that  I  do  not  even  attend  your  sacrifices  ?  Besides,  it  is  no  pleasure  for  me 
to  lie  in  wait  for  beasts  harassed  by  beaters,  and  fenced  in  so  that  they 
cannot  protect  themselves  in  their  own  way.” 

Again,  when  the  king  sought  his  advice  how  to  strengthen  and  secure 
his  throne,  he  replied :  “By  bestowing  honors  on  many,  and  trust  on  few.”  • 

On  another  occasion  the  prefect  of  Syria  had  sent  envoys  to  the  king 
relative  to  two  villages  near  Zeugma,  I  think,  which  he  claimed  had  once 
belonged  to  Antiochus  and  Seleucus,  and  that  therefore  they  had  come 
under  his  own  jurisdiction,  as  the  representative  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
the  successor  of  those  monarchs ;  and  he  complained  that  though  the  neigh¬ 
boring  Armenians  and  Arabs  left  those  towns  in  peace,  the  king  of  Babylon 
had  overstepped  the  boundaries  of  his  already  ample  dominions,  to  drain 
those  villages  by  taxes  as  if  they  belonged  to  him  instead  of  to  Rome.  After 
causing  the  envoys  to  withdraw  out  of  hearing,  the  king  said  to  Apollonius : 
“The  fact  is  that  those  kings  they  mention  granted  these  villages  to  my 
ancestors  as  places  in  which  to  maintain  in  captivity  the  wild  beasts  which 


34 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


are  caught  in  our  country  and  taken  to  them  across  the  Euphrates.  Now 
these  people  are  ignoring  that  grant,  and  are  grasping  at  new  and  unfair 
pretexts.  What  do  you  think  is  the  purpose  of  this  embassy  ?”  Apollonius 
replied :  ‘‘It  strikes  me  as  being  fair  and  reasonable,  O  King,  if  that  pur¬ 
pose  is  to  obtain  from  you  an  amicable  surrender  of  villages  situated  on 
their  own  side  of  the  river,  which  they  could  take  anyway,  whether  you  are 
willing  or  not.”  He  went  on  to  say  that  it  would  not  do  to  quarrel  with 
the  Roman  Empire  for  the  sake  of  those  villages  which  were  more  insig¬ 
nificant  than  many  owned  by  commoners,  or  even  to  be  provoked  into  war 
with  it  over  weighty  issues. 

Again,  when  the  king  had  fallen  ill,  Apollonius  sat  by  him  and  dis¬ 
coursed  concerning  the  soul  with  such  power  and  inspiration  that  the  king 
took  courage  and  said  to  those  present:  “Apollonius  has  relieved  me  of 
anxiety  about  my  kingdom  before  this,  and  now  he  has  relieved  my  fear 
of  death.” 

39. 

When  the  king  showed  him  that  covered  way  laid  under  the  Eu¬ 
phrates,  and  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  such  a  miracle,  Apollonius 
cooled  his  enthusiasm  for  the  marvelous  by  saying :  “The  real  miracle,  O 
King,  would  be  for  you  to  wade  such  a  deep  and  impassable  river.”  Then 
the  king  exhibited  to  him  the  walls  of  Ecbatana,  which  he  called  the 
abode  of  the  gods.  Apollonius  said:  “I  am  sure  that  it  is  not  the  abode  of 
gods,  O  King,  and  whether  it  is  even  an  abode  for  men  is  doubtful.  The 
city  where  the  Spartans  live  is  built  without  any  walls  at  all.”  After 
holding  court  among  the  towns  the  king  boasted  to  Apollonius  that  he  had 
devoted  two  days  to  hearing  one  case,  but  the  Master  remarked:  “You 
were  very  slow  in  finding  where  justice  lay.”  At  another  time,  when  large 
remittances  of  revenue  had  been  received  from  the  provinces,  the  king 
opened  his  treasury  to  him  and  exhibited  the  gold  in  it,  thinking  to  excite 
in  him  some  envy;  but  without  being  at  all  impressed  by  what  he  saw, 
Apollonius  said :  “All  this  is  wealth  to  you,  O  King,  but  to  me  it  is  only 
chaff.”  Then  the  king  asked :  “What  ought  I  to  do,  to  make  a  wise  use  of 
it?”  and  he  answered :  “Do  not  hoard  it,  but  employ  it,  for  you  are  a  king.” 

40.. 

Having  had  many  such  colloquies  with  the  king,  whom  he  found  dis¬ 
posed  to  follow  his  advice ;  and  moreover  having  seen  all  he  wished  of  the 
Magi,  the  Master  said :  “Come  now,  Damis,  let  us  continue  our  journey  to 
the  Indians.  Those  who  land  among  the  Lotus-eaters  lose  their  wish  for 
home  by  that  food,  and  although  we  are  not  fond  of  any  of  the  products 
of  this  country,  we  are  lingering  here  longer  than  we  should.”  “I  cer¬ 
tainly  think  so  too,”  said  Damis,  “but  I  have  been  keeping  track  of  the 


BOOK  ONE 


35 


time  you  divined  from  that  lioness,  and  waiting  for  it  to  elapse,  which  has 
not  quite  happened  yet.  We  have  spent  only  a  year  and  four  months  here. 
Would  it  be  propitious  for  us  to  go  away  directly?”  The  Master  replied: 
‘‘The  king  will  not  let  us  go  before  the  end  of  the  eight  months,  Damis, 
for  you  see  how  hospitable  he  is,  and  too  good  to  rule  barbarians.” 

41. 

As  they  were  determined  to  go,  the  king  at  last  consented  to  their 
departure,  and  Apollonius,  reminding  him  of  the  gifts  which  he  had  refused 
to  accept  until  he  had  made  friends  in  that  country,  said :  “O  best  of  kings, 
I  have  so  far  paid  nothing  to  my  host,  and  I  am  also  under  obligation  to 
the  Magi.  Please  therefore  be  mindful  of  them,  and  for  my  sake  show 
favor  to  those  wise  men,  who  moreover  are  most  devoted  to  your  inter¬ 
ests.”  Greatly  delighted  by  this  request,  the  king  said :  “Tomorrow  I  will 
show  you  that  they  have  become  of  enviable  condition,  and  highly  re¬ 
warded.  Now  although  you  want  nothing  for  yourself  which  I  can  give 
you,  at  least  let  these  men”  (pointing  to  Damis  and  their  attendants)  “re¬ 
ceive  from  me  money,  and  whatever  else  they  wish.”  When  they  also  de¬ 
clined  to  accept  any  gifts,  the  Master  said :  “You  see,  O  King,  how  many 
hands  I  have,  and  that  they  are  all  alike !”  “At  least  you  will  take  a  guide 
for  the  journey,  and  camels  to  ride,”  said  the  king,  “for  the  distance  is 
too  great  to  travel  on  foot.”  “Be  it  so,  O  King,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  they 
tell  me  that  the  journey  cannot  be  made  except  by  riding  those  animals, 
which  will  keep  in  good  condition  if  they  feed  at  long  intervals,  when 
forage  is  scarce.  I  suppose  they  must  carry  water  too,  stored  in  leather 
bags  as  if  it  was  wine.”  “You  have  to  pass  through  a  three  days’  stretch 
of  country  where  no  water  can  be  found,”  said  the  king,  “but  after  that 
rivers  and  springs  abound.  The  best  route  is  by  way  of  the  Caucasus,  for 
that  region  will  furnish  ample  supply  of  all  you  need,  and  besides  it  is  in 
friendly  relations  with  us.”  On  the  king  asking  what  present  he  would 
bring  back  to  him  from  India,  the  Master  replied:  “A  welcome  gift,  O 
King;  for  if  my  companionship  with  those  Sages  shall  have  made  me  wiser, 
I  shall  come  back  to  you  better  than  I  am  now.”  At  this  the  king  embraced 
him,  saying :  “Only  come  back  to  me,  for  that  will  be  gift  enough !” 


36 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


BOOK  TWO. 

Continues  journey  to  India — Crosses  Caucasus  and  Indus — Stay 

WITH  PhRAOTES^  king  OF  InDIA^  AT  TAXILA - RESUMES  JOURNEY 

TO  Brahmins — Reaches  Hyphasis  river. 

1. 

In  early  summer  they  set  out  on  their  journey  from  Babylon  riding 
on  camels,  with  a  guide  and  a  man  to  care  for  the  camels,  and  by  the 
king’s  munificence  they  were  well  supplied  with  all  requisites.  The  region 
through  which  they  went  was  productive  and  the  villagers  received  them 
hospitably,  for  the  leading  camel  bore  a  disc  of  gold  between  its  eyes,  to  * 
show  all  whom  they  met  that  the  king  was  sending  forth  one  of  his  friends. 

2. 

As  they  drew  nearer  the  Caucasus  Damis  says  that  the  earth  itself 
seemed  to  breathe  out  a  sweeter  fragrance.  We  give  this  name  of  Caucasus 
to  the  mountains  beginning  at  the  Taurus  range  and  extending  through 
Armenia  and  Cilicia  to  Pamphylia  and  Mycale,  as  far  as  the  sea  where  the 
Carians  dwell,  which  point  should  be  considered  as  the  end  of  the  Cau¬ 
casus,  and  not  its  beginning,  as  some  call  it.  The  height  of  the  ridge  at 
Mycale  is  not  very  great,  but  the  topmost  peaks  of  Caucasus  rise  so  high 
that  one  would  think  they  might  cleave  the  sun.  Between  the  Caucasus 
proper  and  the  further  range  of  Taurus  all  Scythia  is  enclosed,  from  the 
boundary  of  India  to  the  Masotis  and  the  east  shore  of  the  Black  sea,  a 
distance  of  about  20,000  stadia,  all  of  which  great  tract  of  land  is  shut  in 
by  this  elbow  of  the  Caucasus.  That  the  Taurus  chain  in  our  own  land 
stretches  beyond  Armenia  was  for  some  time  in  doubt,  but  the  fact  that 
leopards  have  been  caught  in  the  incense-bearing  region  of  Pamphylia,  to 
my  own  knowledge,  confirms  the  fact ;  for  leopards  delight  in  incense  and 
follow  up  its  scent  from  a  great  distance  from  Armenia  through  the  hills 
in  search  of  the  drops  of  styrax  gum,  when  the  wind  blows  from  that 
quarter,  and  the  sap  is  exuding  from  the  trees.  It  is  said  that  a  leopardess 
was  once  caught  in  Pamphylia  having  a  gold  collar  around  its  neck  in¬ 
scribed  in  Armenian  characters :  “Arsaces  the  king  to  the  Nysian  god.” 
At  that  time  Arsaces  was  king  of  Armenia,  and  he  probably,  on  seeing  what 
a  fine  beast  she  was,  had  dedicated  her  to  Bacchus,  who  was  called  Nysian 
from  the  city  of  Nysa  in  India,  not  only  by  the  Indians,  but  by  all  the  peo¬ 
ples  of  the  East.  After  some  taming  she  had  submitted  to  patting  and 
stroking,  until  she  became  excited  by  the  coming  of  spring,  which  is  the 


BOOK  TWO 


37 


mating  season  for  leopards ;  when  she  had  escaped  to  the  mountains,  collar 
and  all,  to  find  a  mate;  and  she  was  caught  in  southern  Taurus  because 
the  odor  of  spices  had  enticed  her  there.  Besides  that  boundary  ridge  be¬ 
tween  Media  and  India,  the  Caucasus  extends  another  spur  as  far  as  the 
Erythraean  Sea. 

3. 

Many  of  the  myths  relative  to  the  Caucasus  which  have  been  sung  by 
Greek  poets  are  also  current  among  the  barbarians :  as,  for  instance,  that 
Prometheus  was  chained  there  for  showing  kindness  to  mankind,  and  that 
some  Hercules,  who  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Theban,  was  so  ex¬ 
asperated  by  this  cruelty  that  he  slew  with  arrows  the  eagle  which  fed  on 
Prometheus’  entrails.  Some  s;ay  that  the  prison  of  Prometheus  was  a  cav¬ 
ern  which  is  pointed  out  on  the  trail  over  the  pass,  and  Damis  says  that 
fetters  of  some  unknown  metal  are  still  fastened  to  its  rocky  walls.  Others 
say  that  he  was  chained  to  the  highest  summit  of  the  mountain,  which  has 
two  peaks  a  stadium  apart,  and  that  each  hand  was  clamped  to  one  of  those 
peaks,  which  shows  how  huge  he  was.  This  myth  has  such  influence  among 
the  natives  of  the  region  that  they  detest  eagles  to  this  day,  and  set  on  fire 
with  blazing  arrows  any  nests  which  those  birds  make  in  the  crags,  and 
they  also  snare  them,  saying  that  in  so  doing  they  are  avenging  Prometheus. 

4. 

Damis  says  that  beyond  the  Caucasus  they  saw  men  four  cubits  high, 
and  darker  in  color  than  those  on  this  side ;  and  that  across  the  Indus  river 
they  saw  others  of  five  cubits ;  and  that  half-way  to  that  river  they  had  a 
memorable  experience.  While  they  were  pursuing  their  journey  by  moon¬ 
light  one  night,  their  path  was  beset  by  the  ghastly  apparition  of  an 
Empusa,  which  assumed  first  one  shape  and  then  another,  sometimes  van¬ 
ishing  altogether.  Apollonius  recognized  its  nature  at  once,  and  not  only 
reviled  the  spectre  himself,  but  exhorted  his  companions  to  do  the  same,  as 
that  is  a  safeguard  against  such  visitations,  whereupon  the  Empusa  fled 
squeaking  as  ghosts  do. 

5. 

Crossing  the  summit  of  the  pass  on  foot,  because  of  the  steepness  of 
the  trail,  the  Master  asked  of  Damis :  “Tell  me  where  we  were  yesterday.” 
“On  the  plain,”  said  Damis.  Apollonius  went  on :  “And  now  where  are  we 
today?”  “On  the  Caucasus,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,”  said  Damis.  Apol¬ 
lonius  asked :  “When  were  you  ever  in  a  lower  place  than  this  ?”  “That 
question  is  really  not  worth  asking,”  said  Damis,  “for  yesterday  we  were 
going  through  gorges  deep  among  the  hills,  and  today  we  are  near  the 
sky.”  “Do  you  think,  then,”  asked  the  Master,  “that  our  road  yesterday 


38 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


was  the  lower,  and  today’s  is  the  higher?”  ^^Certainly,”  said  Damis, 
^^unless  I  am  out  of  my  wits.”  The  Master  continued :  “What  do  you  con¬ 
sider  to  be  the  difference  between  the  two  roads,  or  how  much  better  off  are 
you  today  than  yesterday?”  Damis  replied:  “Yesterday  I  was  travelling  a 
road  used  by  many,  and  today  one  used  by  few.”  “What  of  that,  Damis  ?” 
asked  the  Master ;  “for  even  in  a  city  one  may  avoid  the  main  streets,  and 
walk  where  men  are  few.”  “I  did  not  mean  it  in  that  sense,”  said  Damis, 
“but  that  yesterday  we  were  passing  among  villages  and  human  society, 
and  today  we  are  climbing  in  a  sort  of  untrodden  and  unearthly  wilder¬ 
ness,  which  our  guide  tells  me  the  barbarians  regard  as  the  abode  of  the 
gods ;”  and  he  looked  up  at  the  peaks  of  the  mountain.  Bringing  him  back 
to  the  starting  point,  the  Master  asked  once  more :  “Can  you  tell  of  any 
thoughts  of  the  divine  which  have  come  to  you  by  your  nearness  to 
heaven?”  “None,”  said  Damis.  Apollonius  said :  “And  yet  when  you  are 
uplifted  like  a  god  on  such  a  lofty  pedestal,  you  should  conceive  clearer 
ideas  of  the  sky  and  the  sun  and  the  moon,  which  seem  almost  near  enough 
to  you  to  be  touched  by  your  staff,  so  close  to  heaven  are  you  brought.” 
Damis  said:  “What  I  knew  yesterday  about  divine  things  I  know  today 
as  well,  but  no  other  conception  of  them  has  come  to  me.”  The  Master 
said :  “Then,  Damis,  you  are  still  down  there  where  you  were  then,  and 
you  have  gained  nothing  by  your  elevation ;  for  you  are  as  far  from  heaven 
as  you  were  yesterday.  You  see  now  that  my  first  questions  had  some 
meaning,  though  you  did  think  them  absurd.”  Damis  said :  “I  certainly 
had  supposed  that  I  might  descend  a  wiser  man  than  I  came  up,  Apollonius, 
for  I  have  heard  that  Anaxagoras  of  Clazomene  studied  the  heavens  on 
Mount  Mimas  in  Ionia,  and  that  Thales  the  Milesian  did  the  same  on 
Mycale,  near  here,  and  others  are  said  to  have  used  Mt.  Pangseus  and  Mt. 
Athos  as  places  for  meditation ;  but  I,  who  have  climbed  higher  than  any 
of  them,  will  go  down  no  wiser  than  I  was.”  “None  of  them  did  either,” 
said  the  Master,  “for  though  such  watch-towers  may  show  the  sky  more 
blue,  larger  stars,  and  the  sun  rising  from  the  night,  those  sights  are  just 
as  visible  to  shepherds  and  goat  herds.  But  how  the  divine  majesty  may 
view  the  human  race,  and  how  it  desires  to  be  worshipped  by  us,  and  what 
virtue  may  be,  and  uprightness  and  self-control,  neither  Athos  will  show 
to  its  climbers,  nor  will  that  Olympus,  glorified  by  the  poets,  unless  the  soul 
discerns  them.  When  that  comes  pure  and  undefiled  to  the  quest,  I  say 
that  it  soars  high  above  this  Caucasus  itself.” 

6. 

Soon  after  passing  the  mountains  they  came  upon  a  tribe  of  men  who 
ride  on  elephants  and  keep  herds  of  those  animals ;  a  simple  folk  dwelling 
between  the  Caucasus  and  the  Cophen  river.  Some  of  them  also  rode 


BOOK  TWO 


39 


camels  of  the  kind  which  the  Indians  use  for  racing,  and  which  can  go  a 
thousand  stadia  a  day  without  kneeling  to  rest.  An  Indian  mounted  on 
such  a  camel  came  to  their  guide  and  inquired  where  they  were  going,  and 
on  learning  the  purpose  of  their  journey,  he  told  it  to  the  other  nomads, 
who  raised  a  joyful  shout  and  called  them  nearer,  and  on  their  approach 
held  out  to  them  a  wine  which  they  make  very  skilfully  from  dates,  and 
honey  obtained  from  the  same  trees,  together  with  slices  of  lion  and 
leopard  meat  which  had  just  been  skinned.  The  party  accepted  all  these 
offerings  except  the  meat,  and  went  on  eastward  through  villages  of  those 
Indians. 

7. 

As  they  were  breakfasting  at  a  spring,  Damis  filled  a  cup  with  the 
wine  presented  by  the  Indians,  and  said:  ‘T  offer  you  this  cup  of  Zeus 
the  Preserver,  Apollonius,  for  it  is  a  long  time  since  you  have  had  a  drink. 
I  suppose  you  will  not  refuse  this  kind  of  liquor,  as  you  do  wine  made 
from  grapes and  he  poured  a  libation  from  it  in  mentioning  Zeus. 
Apollonius  said,  smilingly:  ‘‘We  hold  aloof  from  money,  do  we  not, 
Damis?”  “We  certainly  do,”  said  Damis,  “as  you  have  often  shown  by 
your  own  example.”  Apollonius  continued :  “Is  it  only  gold  and  silver  coin 
which  we  are  to  abstain  from,  because  such  money  does  not  tempt  us, 
although  every  one  else  from  kings  to  commoners  clutches  at  it;  but  if 
some  one  offers  us  copper,  or  debased  and  counterfeit  coin  instead  of 
silver,  are  we  to  accept  that,  because  it  is  not  what  most  people  desire? 
The  Indians  actually  do  make  use  of  copper  and  bronze  coinage,  and  every 
one  who  comes  to  India  must  buy  things  with  that  money.  What  if  those 
kind  nomads  just  now  had  offered  us  such  coins  as  that,  and  you  saw  me 
declining  it,  Damis,  would  you  have  urged  me  to  take  it,  and  would  you 
have  assured  me  that  real  money  is  only  what  the  Romans  and  the  Median 
king  mint,  but  that  this  was  quite  a  different  thing  which  had  been  invented 
by  the  Indians  ?  And  supposing  you  did  persuade  me  by  such  an  argument, 
what  would  you  think  of  me?  That  I  was  an  impostor,  who  had  discarded 
philosophy  as  runaway  soldiers  fling  down  their  shields?  For  that  matter, 
as  Archilochus  says,  the  owner  of  a  shield  who  throws  it  away  may  find 
another  no  worse  than  the  first,  but  how  can  a  man  pick  up  philosophy 
again,  when  he  has  once  despised  and  rejected  it?  Bacchus  may  forgive 
me  so  long  as  I  am  not  tempted  by  any  kind  of  wine,  but  if  I  should  prefer 
date-wine  to  grape- juice  he  would  doubtless  resent  it,  and  say  that  I  had 
insulted  his  gift.  Where  we  are  now  we  are  not  far  from  him,  for  you  just 
heard  from  the  guide  that  the  mountain  of  Nysa  is  near,  where  I  under¬ 
stand  that  Bacchus  still  works  many  miracles.  Moreover,  Damis,  it  is  not 
alone  wine  made  from  grapes  which  intoxicates  men,  for  date-wine  inspires 


40 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


the  same  madness,  and  we  have  already  seen  many  Indians  overcome  by  it, 
and  staggering  in  dances,  or  drowsily  singing,  quite  as  revellers  do  with  us 
when  they  are  going  home  late  from  a  drinking  bout.  It  is  obvious  that 
you  yourself  think  that  this  drink  is  wine,  for  you  offered  a  libation  of  it 
to  Zeus,  with  a  prayer,  just  as  you  would  with  wine.  These  remarks  apply 
only  to  myself,  Damis,  and  I  have  no  objection  if  you  and  your  companions 
drink  it,  in  the  same  way  that  I  acquiesce  in  your  eating  meat ;  for  abstain¬ 
ing  from  those  things  does  not  do  you  any  good,  so  far  as  I  can  see ;  but 
it  is  well  for  me  to  keep  the  vows  which  I  made  to  philosophy  in  my  boy¬ 
hood.”  This  suited  Damis  and  the  attendants,  who  enjoyed  the  feast,  think¬ 
ing  that  they  would  travel  more  comfortably  after  a  good  meal. 

8. 

They  crossed  the  Cophen  river  in  boats  while  their  camels  waded,  as 
the  river  is  not  deep  there.  On  the  further  side  they  found  themselves  in 
the  dominions  of  the  king  of  India,  near  the  Nysa  mountain,  which  rises 
in  a  lofty  peak  like  Mt.  Tmolus  in  Lydia,  although  its  ascent  is  not  difficult 
because  the  approaches  to  it  have  been  cleared  by  cultivation.  Damis  says 
that  on  climbing  it  they  found  an  area  consecrated  to  Bacchus,  which  the 
god  himself  had  planted  round  with  laurels,  encircling  ground  enough  for 
a  small  temple,  and  had  married  ivy  and  grapevines  to  the  laurels,  and  set 
up  his  own  image  in  the  center,  knowing  that  in  time  the  trees  would  meet 
to  form  a  roof,  which  has  now  become  so  closely  woven  that  it  lets  in 
neither  wind  nor  rain  upon  the  shrine.  Inside  it  are  sickles  and  baskets 
and  wine  vats,  with  all  their  belongings,  made  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
sacred  to  Bacchus  as  god  of  the  vintage.  The  statue  of  Bacchus  shows  him 
as  an  Indian  lad,  carved  in  white  stone,  and  when  he  begins  his  orgies  he 
shakes  the  mountain,  and  the  towns  set  about  its  foot  hear  him  and  join  in 
the  revelry. 

9. 

Concerning  this  Bacchus  there  is  a  dispute  between  the  Indians  and 
the  Greeks,  and  another  among  the  Indians  themselves.  We  say  that  the 
Theban  Bacchus  went  to  India  warring  and  revelling  all  the  way,  and  we 
adduce  as  evidence,  among  other  proofs,  the  votive  offering  treasured  at 
Delphi,  which  is  a  disc  of  Indian  silver  work  inscribed :  “Bacchus  the  son 
of  Zeus  and  Semele  to  the  Delphic  Apollo  from  India.”  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Indians  inhabiting  the  Caucasus  and  the  Cophen  river  country 
say  that  the  Bacchus  who  came  to  them  was  an  Assyrian,  who  had  learned 
the  mystic  rites  of  the  Theban.  While  those  who  inhabit  the  region  between 
the  Indus  and  the  Hydraotes  and  the  adjoining  territory  extending  to  the 
Ganges  assert  that  the  original  Bacchus  was  the  son  of  the  Indus  River, 
and  that  it  was  by  his  teaching  that  the  Theban  Bacchus  adopted  the 


BOOK  TWO 


41 


thyrsus  and  indulged  in  orgies ;  that  the  Theban  claimed  to  be  the  son  of 
Jove  and  to  have  grown  in  his  father’s  thigh  until  ready  for  birth,  and  that 
he  was  presented  by  the  Indian  Bacchus  with  Mount  Merus,  near  Nysa; 
and  that  he  had  brought  vine-cuttings  from  Thebes  and  planted  them  at 
Nysa  in  honor  of  the  Indian  Bacchus,  and  that  Alexander  had  celebrated 
the  rites  of  Bacchus  there.  The  people  of  Nysa  say  that  Alexander  did  not 
ascend  their  mountain,  though  wishing  to  do  so,  as  being  an  eager  anti¬ 
quarian  ;  but  he  feared  that  if  his  Macedonians  were  shown  the  vines, 
which  they  had  not  seen  for  so  long,  they  might  become  homesick,  or  might 
revive  their  thirst  for  wine  after  being  so  long  accustomed  to  water;  so 
he  marched  past  Nysa,  merely  sacrificing  and  praying  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain.  I  am  very  well  aware  that  I  shall  be  criticized  for  writing  this 
account,  inasmuch  as  none  of  Alexander’s  companions  on  that  expedition 
confirms  it,  but  it  is  my  duty  to  set  down  the  truth,  and  if  they  had  made 
it  theirs  they  would  not  have  deprived  Alexander  of  this  additional  honor ; 
for  while  they  agree  in  saying  that  he  climbed  the  mountain  and  revelled 
there  in  orgies,  I  think  it  more  to  his  glory  not  to  have  climbed  it,  so  that 
he  might  maintain  the  discipline  of  his  army. 

10. 

Damis  says  that  they  did  not  see  the  rock  of  Aornus,  which  is  not  far 
from  Nysa  but  ofif  the  road,  as  their  guide  feared  to  go  so  far  out  of  their 
way,  but  that  he  heard  that  it  had  been  taken  by  assault  by  Alexander,  and 
that  it  was  not  called  Aornus  (birdless)  because  of  its  height,  for  it  is  only 
fifteen  stadia  high,  and  even  peacocks  fly  higher  than  that,  but  because 
there  is  a  cleft  in  its  top  which  drags  down  into  itself  all  passing  birds,  as 
may  be  seen  at  Athens  in  the  porch  of  the  Parthenon,  and  in  many  places 
in  Phrygia  and  Lydia;  and  for  that  reason  it  is  called  the  birdless  rock, 
and  is  so  in  reality. 

11. 

On  their  way  toward  the  Indus  they  met  a  boy  about  thirteen  years 
old  riding  on  an  elephant  and  grievously  goading  the  animal,  and  as  they 
wondered  at  him  Apollonius  said,  “What  constitutes  a  good  rider,  Damis?” 
to  which  he  replied :  “What  else  but  sticking  on  the  horse  to  control  him, 
and  to  guide  him  by  the  reins,  and  to  restrain  his  outbreaks,  and  to  see 
that  he  does  not  set  his  foot  into  a  hole  or  a  ditch  or  a  quick-sand,  in  going 
over  soft  or  marshy  ground?”  Apollonius  asked:  “Do  we  require  nothing 
more  of  a  good  horseman,  Damis?”  “Yes,  by  Zeus,”  said  Damis,  “to  give 
his  horse  a  loose  rein  when  climbing  a  hill,  and  not  to  give  him  his  head 
but  to  hold  him  in  when  going  down  hill ;  to  pat  his  neck  and  ears,  and  not 
to  be  always  whipping  him ;  this  seems  to  me  to  constitute  a  good  horse¬ 
man,  and  I  would  recommend  such  a  rider.”  “Then  what  should  a  cavalry- 


42 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


man  do  ?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  Damis  replied :  “All  of  those  things,  Apol¬ 
lonius,  and  besides  he  should  know  how  to  slash  and  to  parry,  to  charge  and 
to  retreat,  and  to  dodge  the  enemy ;  and  he  must  train  his  horse  not  to  be 
frightened  when  a  shield  rattles,  or  when  helmets  glitter,  or  a  bugle  blows, 
or  a  war  cry  is  raised ;  all  this  too  belongs  to  good  horsemanship.’’ 
Apollonius  asked:  “What  then  have  you  to  say  of  this  lad  on  the  ele¬ 
phant  ?”  Damis  answered :  “That  his  skill  is  much  more  remarkable  than 
such  horsemanship.  Merely  to  see  so  small  a  boy  set  on  so  huge  a  beast, 
controlling  it  by  that  goad  which  you  see  him  drive  into  the  elephant  as 
if  it  were  an  anchor,  without  any  fear  of  the  beast’s  appearance  or  height 
or  enormous  strength,  by  Athene !  seems  to  me  something  marvellous,  and 
I  would  not  have  believed  it  if  anyone  had  told  me  of  it!”  Apollonius 
asked :  “Supposing  some  one  would  sell  us  that  boy  then,  Damis ;  would 
you  buy  him  ?”  “I  would,  by  Zeus !  if  he  cost  all  I  own ;  for  to  sit  as  if  in 
a  tower  ruling  the  most  gigantic  beast  which  the  earth  feeds  seems  to  me 
indicative  of  a  free  and  noble  nature,”  answered  Damis.  Then  Apollonius 
asked :  “But  of  what  use  would  the  boy  be  to  you  unless  you  should  buy 
the  elephant  too  ?”  Damis  replied :  “I  would  give  him  charge  of  my  house 
and  my  property,  for  he  would  manage  them  much  better  than  I  do.” 
Apollonius  asked:  “Are  you  yourself  not  equal  to  managing  your  own 
affairs?”  “In  the  same  way  that  you  are,  Apollonius,”  answered  Damis, 
“for  like  you  I  have  given  up  my  property,  and  wander  about  in  search  of 
knowledge,  and  to  see  foreign  lands.”  “Well,  Damis,”  said  Apollonius, 
“supposing  you  had  bought  the  boy  and  you  owned  two  horses,  a  race¬ 
horse  and  a  charger,  which  of  them  would  you  put  him  on?”  “The  race¬ 
horse,  probably,”  replied  Damis,  “for  I  see  others  do  so.  How  could  he 
manage  a  warhorse  used  to  heavy  armor,  when  he  could  not  carry  a 
cavalry  shield,  nor  a  breastplate  nor  a  helmet?  And  how  could  he  hold  a 
lance  in  rest,  when  he  can  hardly  shoot  an  arrow  or  throw  a  javelin,  and 
he  seems  barely  old  enough  to  speak  plainly?”  Apollonius  said  then:  “So 
there  is  something  else  which  controls  and  impels  that  elephant,  Damis, 
and  not  that  rider  whom  you  worship  almost  beyond  wonder and  on 
Damis’  asking:  “What  may  that  be,  Apollonius,  for  I  see  nothing  on  the 
elephant  but  the  boy?”  the  Master  said:  “This  is  by  far  the  most  docile 
of  all  animals,  and  when  once  it  has  been  tamed  by  a  man  it  lets  him  do 
anything  to  it,  and  always  shows  him  the  same  obedience.  It  delights  to 
take  food  from  his  hand  like  a  puppy ;  it  caresses  him  with  its  trunk  when 
he  comes  near;  it  lets  him  put  his  head  into  its  jaws,  holding  them  open  as 
long  as  he  likes,  as  we  saw  done  among  the  nomads.  Yet  it  is  said  to 
lament  over  its  bondage  at  night,  not  with  its  usual  trumpeting  but  with 
a  mournful  and  piteous  moaning ;  yet  if  the  man  comes  to  it  while  mourn¬ 
ing  so,  the  elephant  stops  its  complaining  as  if  ashamed.  Thus  it  is  its 


BOOK  TWO 


43 


own  master,  Damis,  and  its  tractable  disposition  manages  and  rules  it  more 
than  its  rider  does.” 

12. 

Damis  says  that  when  they  reached  the  Indus  river  they  saw  a  herd 
of  elephants  crossing  the  stream.  They  were  told  that  one  variety  of  this 
animal  lives  in  swamps,  another  in  the  uplands,  and  a  third  variety  in  the 
plains,  and  that  the  last  kind  are  taken  for  use  in  war.  They  go  into  battle 
equipped  with  towers  which  hold  ten  or  fifteen  Indians  each,  and  the 
Indians  shoot  arrows  and  throw  darts  from  them  as  from  a  castle,  and 
meantime  the  beast  itself  uses  its  proboscis  like  a  hand  and  hurls  javelins 
with  it.  The  Indian  elephants  are  as  much  larger  than  the  African,  as  the 
African  elephants  are  larger  than  a  Nissean  horse.  Other  writers  have  often 
told  before  how  very  long  lived  the  elephant  is,  but  Damis  says  that  they 
saw  one  near  Taxila,  the  largest  city  in  India,  which  the  natives  kept 
anointed  with  unguents  and  wreathed  with  fillets  because  it  was  one  of  the 
elephants  which  had  fought  for  Porus  against  Alexander,  and  because 
Alexander  had  dedicated  it  to  the;  Sun  for  its  bravery  in  that  battle.  It 
had  gold  bands  welded  around  its  tusks,  and  inscribed  in  Greek  letters 
“Alexander  son  of  Zeus  dedicates  Ajax  to  the  Sun;”  for  Alexander  had 
named  this  elephant  Ajax,  thinking  so  huge  a  beast  deserved  that  mighty 
name.  According  to  the  reckoning  of  the  natives  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years  had  elapsed  since  that  battle,  not  counting  how  old  he  was  when  he 
fought  in  it. 

13. 

Juba,  the  former  king  of  Libya,  records  that  the  Libyans  once  fought 
among  themselves  mounted  on  elephants,  those  of  one  faction  having  a 
tower  carved  on  their  tusks,  while  the  tusks  of  the  other  faction  were 
plain ;  and  that  at  nightfall  the  elephants  with  carved  tusks  gave  way  and 
fled  into  Mt.  Atlas;  and  that  four  hundred  years  afterward  he  himself  had 
captured  one  of  those  fugitive  elephants  which  still  bore  that  tower  mark 
deeply  cut  and  not  effaced  by  time.  Juba  argues  that  the  tusks  are  actually 
horns,  because  they  grow  from  the  lower  part  of  the  animal’s  temples,  and 
are  never  whetted  against  other  objects,  and  moreover  when  their  growth 
is  attained  they  are  permanent,  and  do  not  fall  out  as  teeth  do,  to  be  re¬ 
placed  by  others.  I  do  not  think  this  reasoning  sound,  for  stags’  horns  at 
least,  if  not  all  horns,  are  regularly  shed  and  grow  again;  and  though 
men’s  teeth  do  fall  out  and  new  ones  grow  in  their  place,  no  tusks  or  eye¬ 
teeth  of  any  other  animal  drop  naturally,  or  would  be  renewed  if  they  did ; 
for  nature  has  inserted  them  in  the  jaws  to  serve  as  weapons.  Moreover 
horns  take  on  a  new  wrinkle  around  their  base  every  year,  as  we  see  in 
goats  and  sheep  and  oxen ;  but  a  tooth  grows  out  smooth  and  always 


44 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


remains  so,  unless  some  accident  mars  it,  for  it  has  a  somewhat  crystalline 
substance  and  quality.  Then  too  only  cloven- footed  creatures  produce 
horns,  whereas  the  elephant  is  a  five-toed  animal  with  a  much  divided  hoof, 
and  as  its  toes  spread  out  it  stands  on  a  sort  of  cushion.  Further,  in  all 
horned  animals  nature  builds  up  the  outer  horn  around  a  core  of  spongy 
bone,  but  she  forms  the  elephant’s  tusk  solid  and  uniform  throughout,  and 
if  it  is  cut  open  it  shows  a  little  tube  at  the  center  as  in  teeth.  The  tusks 
of  swamp  elephants  are  porous  and  discolored,  and  they  are  unsuited  for 
carving  because  filled  with  hidden  cavities,  and  covered  with  unmanage¬ 
able  excrescences.  Those  of  mountain  elephants  are  smaller  but  quite 
white,  and  have  no-  qualities  which  interfere  with  carving;  but  the  tusks 
of  plains  elephants  are  the  choicest  of  all,  being  very  large  and  white  and 
easily  cut,  and  taking  readily  any  shape  designed  by  the  artist.  With 
reference  to  the  intelligence  of  elephants,  the  Indians  consider  those  caught 
in  the  marshes  to  be  dull  and  stupid;  and  the  mountain  elephants  to  be 
vicious  and  treacherous,  not  to  be  depended  on  by  man  unless  they  want 
something  from  him ;  but  those  from  the  plains  are  said  to  be  reliable  and 
docile,  and  quick  in  imitation,  so  that  they  learn  even  to  write  and  to  dance, 
and  to  swing  to  and  fro  in  time  to  the  flute,  and  to  rear  up  from  the 
ground. 

14. 

Seeing  that  herd  of  about  thirty  elephants  crossing  the  Indus,  and 
using  the  smallest  one  as  their  leader,  with  the  larger  ones  carrying  their 
young  on  their  projecting  tusks,  having  their  trunks  thrown  over  them 
like  straps  to  hold  them  on,  Apollonius  said  to  Damis :  “Those  animals 
are  acting  of  their  own  volition  and  by  their  natural  prudence  and  sagacity, 
without  anyone  to  direct  them ;  and  do  you  see  how  like  baggage- wagons 
they  are  carrying  their  calves  hoisted  and  strapped  down  ?”  “I  do  see  how 
wisely  and  how  skilfully  they  are  handling  them,  Apollonius,”  said  Damis ; 
“Why  then  should  there  be  that  foolish  discussion  among  quibblers 
whether  or  not  parental  affection  is  natural,  when  elephants  show  that  it  is 
inborn  ?  These  animals  have  certainly  not  learned  such  care  from  men,  as 
some  elephants  are  taught  things,  for  they  have  never  lived  with  men ;  yet 
they  care  for  and  bring  up  their  young,  because  of  the  love  implanted  in 
them  by  nature.”  “You  need  not  confine  that  statement  to  elephants, 
Damis,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  to  this  animal,  in  point  of  sagacity  and  judg¬ 
ment,  I  assign  a  place  second  only  to  man;  but  I  think  even  a  stronger 
case  is  made  by  bears,  which  though  very  savage  beasts,  will  do  anything 
for  their  cubs ;  and  by  wolves,  which  naturally  live  by  the  chase,  and  yet  the 
female  guards  her  whelps  in  the  den,  while  the  male  goes  out  to  hunt,  and 
brings  his  prey  to  feed  them ;  and  by  leopardesses  too,  which  from  innate 


BOOK  TWO 


45 


craving  delight  to  become  mothers,  for  then  they  domineer  over  their  mates 
and  rule  the  family ;  and  the  males  endure  all  their  tyrannies  patiently,  out 
of  love  for  theii;  cubs.  Moreover  it  is  said  of  lionesses  that  they  accept 
leopards  as  their  lovers,  and  entertain  them  in  the  lions’  lairs  in  the  plains, 
but  when  their  pregnancy  is  nearly  over  they  run  away  to  the  hills  where 
the  leopards  range;  for  the  cubs  they  bring  forth  are  spotted  like  their 
sires ;  and  for  that  reason  the  lionesses  hide  them  from  the  lions  and 
suckle  them  in  distant  thickets,  pretending  to  go  there  to  hunt  by  them¬ 
selves  ;  for  any  such  cubs  which  the  lions  discover  they  tear  to  pieces  as 
bastards.  You  have  of  course  read  how  one  of  Homer’s  lions  glares 
fiercely  about  and  nerves  himself  to  fight  for  his  litter  of  cubs.  It  is  said 
that  in  this  region  and  about  the  Erythraean  Sea  the  tigress,  that  most  fero¬ 
cious  of  animals,  will  go  even  on  board  a  ship  in  search  of  her  stolen  cubs, 
and  if  she  finds  them  she  carries  them  away  rejoicing;  but  if  the  ship  shall 
have  sailed  away  with  them,  she  stands  screaming  on  the  beach,  and  some¬ 
times  dies  there.  Who  does  not  know  how  birds  act?  How  eagles  and 
storks  never  build  their  nests  without  inserting  shining  stones  in  them, 
eagle-stones  for  eagles  and  lamp-stones  for  storks,  to  help  out  the  hatch¬ 
ing  and  to  drive  away  serpents?  If  we  consider  marine  animals,  it  may 
not  be  surprising  that  the  kindly  dolphins  should  love  their  young,  but 
is  it  not  strange  to  find  that  trait  in  whales  and  seals,  and  other  kinds 
which  bring  forth  their  young  alive  ?  I  saw  a  seal  at  ^gse  which  was  kept 
to  catch  fish,  and  which  mourned  so  bitterly  over  her  dead  pup  which  she 
had  brought  forth  in  her  cage,  that  she  refused  food  for  three  days, 
although  naturally  the  most  voracious  of  creatures.  The  whale  likewise 
hides  her  young  in  the  cavern  of  her  jaws  when  a  greater  danger  threatens 
than  she  can  drive  away.  A  viper  has  been  seen  licking  the  little  snakes 
which  she  had  brought  forth,  and  caressing  them  with  her  flickering 
tongue.  For  we  should  not  believe  the  ridiculous  statement  that  young 
serpents  are  born  without  mothers,  Damis ;  it  is  contrary  both  to  reason 
and  to  observation.”  Then  Damis  said  in  reply:  “You  concede  then  that 
Euripides  should  be  commended  for  that  verse  of  his,  where  he  makes 
Andromache  say 

‘To  every  man  his  children  are  the  life !’  ” 

“I  concede  it,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  it  is  well  said  and  wisely;  but  it  would 
have  been  a  much  better  and  wiser  sentiment  if  it  were  extended  to  all 
living  creatures.”  “Then,”  said  Damis,  “you  would  correct  the  line, 
Apollonius,  so  as  to  read : 

‘To  all  that  breathes  its  offspring  are  the  life!’ 

“and  I  agree  with  you  that  is  better.” 


46 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


15. 

“But  tell  me,  did  we  not  say  at  the  outset  of  this  conversation  that 
there  is  great  sagacity  in  elephants,  and  judgment  in  what  they  do?” 
“Yes,”  said  Apollonius,  “and  we  were  right  in  saying  so,  for  unless  judg' 
ment  guided  these  animals’  actions  neither  they  nor  the  men  among  whom 
they  live  would  survive.”  “Why  then,”  asked  Damis,  “do  they  cross  the 
river  so  stupidly  and  awkwardly?  For,  as  you  see,  the  smallest  of  them 
all  goes  first,  then  a  somewhat  larger  one  follows  him,  and  then  a  larger 
still,  and  all  the  largest  ones  bring  up  the  rear  in  a  body.  Whereas  they 
should  rather  march  in  inverse  order,  and  use  the  biggest  as  their  pioneers 
and  bulwarks.”  Apollonius  replied:  “But  Damis,  in  the  first  place  they 
are  apparently  fleeing  from  pursuit  of  hunters,  whom  we  will  find  some¬ 
where  following  up  their  trail,  and  it  is  best  for  them  to  have  a  strong  rear¬ 
guard  against  their  pursuers,  as  in  warfare;  so  that  in  that  matter  these 
animals  should  be  rated  as  good  tacticians.  Then,  so  far  as  the  crossing 
is  concerned,  if  the  largest  had  gone  over  the  stream  first,  they  would  not 
have  made  sure  that  all  could  get  across ;  for  the  fording  would  be  rapid 
and  easy  for  the  very  tall  ones,  but  difficult  and  perhaps  impossible  for  any 
which  did  not  stand  higher  than  the  surface  of  the  water.  But  when  the 
smallest  has  crossed  over  it  shows  that  there  is  no  difficulty  for  the  others. 
Then  too  if  the  bigger  ones  had  entered  the  river  first  they  would  have 
deepened  the  passage  for  the  smaller ;  for  necessarily  the  mud  would  be 
packed  down  by  the  weight  of  such  animals  and  the  size  of  their  feet; 
while  the  smaller  ones  do  not  affect  the  crossing  by  the  larger,  as  they  do 
not  tread  the  river  bed  so  deeply.” 

16. 

I  find  in  Juba’s  account  that  hunted  elephants  aid  each  other,  and 
defend  any  exhausted  one ;  and  if  they  bring  him  off,  they  stand  about  him 
plastering  his  wounds  with  aloe-juice  like  so  many  surgeons.  Our  travellers 
used  to  philosophize  in  this  fashion  very  often,  choosing  their  topics  from 
any  occurrence  which  seemed  worth  discussion. 

17. 

Damis  confirms  what  Nearchus  and  Pythagoras  tell  of  the  Acesines 
river,  that  it  empties  into  the  Indus,  and  that  it  breeds  serpents  seventy 
cubits  long;  but  I  will  defer  that  subject  until  we  come  to  the  dragons, 
and  Damis’  description  of  the  method  of  hunting  them.  When  the  party 
had  reached  the  Indus  and  were  about  to  cross,  our  travellers  asked  their 
Babylonian  guide  how  they  would  cross  it,  and  what  he  knew  of  the  river, 
and  he  confessed  that  he  had  never  sailed  on  it  and  did  not  know  where 
the  crossing  was.  “Why  then,”  said  they,  “have  you  not  engaged  a  guide  ?” 


BOOK  TWO 


47 


“Because  a  guide  is  already  provided,”  said  he;  and  he  produced  the  king’s 
letter  arranging  for  one.  Damis  says  that  they  wondered  then  at  King 
Vardanes’  kindness  and  friendly  solicitude,  for  he  had  written  this  letter 
to  the  satrap  of  the  Indus,  although  not  under  his  rule,  in  which  he 
reminded  him  of  past  favors,  and  said  that  he  was  not  asking  for  any 
return,  as  he  was  not  one  to  seek  recompense  for  kindness,  but  that  if  he 
would  take  care  of  Apollonius,  and  see  that  he  was  conducted  where  he 
wished  to  go,  he  would  consider  it  a  favor.  He  had  also  given  money  to 
the  guide  for  their  travelling-expenses,  so  that  if  he  saw  Apollonius  need¬ 
ing  anything,  he  could  supply  him  without  looking  elsewhere.  On  receiv¬ 
ing  the  letter  the  Indian  official  said  that  a  great  honor  had  been  done  him, 
and  that  he  would  look  after  his  guest  as  solicitously  as  if  the  king  of 
India  himself  had  recommended  him.  So  he  sent  them  his  own  barge,  kept 
for  his  official  journeys,  together  with  other  vessels  to  transport  the  camels, 
and  a  guide  to  conduct  them  through  all  that  region  as  far  as  the  Hydra- 
otes  river,  dispatching*  at  the  same  time  letters  to  his  own  monarch  asking 
him  to  show  himself  not  less  courteous  than  Vardanes  to  this  god-like 
Greek. 

18. 

They  crossed  the  Indus  in  these  boats,  sailing  nearly  forty  stadia,  for 
the  ferry  is  of  that  width.  Damis  tells  of  the  river  that  it  rises  in  the  Cau¬ 
casus  and  is  larger  in  its  headwaters  than  any  other  river  in  Asia,  besides 
receiving  many  navigable  streams  in  its  course ;  and  thus  becoming  a  twin 
of  the  Nile  it  inundates  India,  and  by  spreading  silt  over  silt  it  enables  the 
Indians  to  cultivate  their  lands  after  the  Egyptian  fashion.  I  am  sorry  to 
gainsay  those  writers  who  tell  of  the  snows  of  Ethiopia  and  of  the  Cataract 
mountains  of  the  Nile,  but  I  do  not  agree  with  them,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  Indus  acts  just  like  the  Nile  without  any  snowfall  on  the  moun¬ 
tains  above  it.  Besides,  I  know  that  God  has  set  the  Ethiopians  and  the 
Indians  at  the  opposite  horns  of  all  the  earth,  but  making  them  both  dark- 
colored,  these  by  the  rising  sun  and  those  by  the  setting;  and  that  this 
would  not  happen  unless  both  races  were  warm  in  winter  as  well  as  in 
summer.  But  if  the  sun  is  hot  upon  the  earth  through  all  the  year,  how  can 
any  one  suppose  that  snow  falls  there,  and  falls  in  such  abundance  as  to 
make  the  rivers  of  those  lands  overflow  their  banks  ?  Even  if  snow  could 
fall  in  regions  so  exposed  to  the  sun,  how  can  one  believe  that  it  pours 
forth  such  a  sea?  Blow  that  it  feeds  the  river  which  floods  all  Egypt? 

19. 

Damis  says  that  they  met  with  many  hippopotami  and  many  croco¬ 
diles  in  crossing  the  Indus,  as  those  do  who  sail  on  the  Nile;  and  that 
flowers  grow  in  that  river  such  as  grow  in  the  Nile;  and  that  the  climate 


48 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


near  the  Indus  is  warm  in  winter,  and  so  hot  in  summer  as  to  be  stifling, 
but  that  God  has  most  beneficently  provided  against  this  heat  by  frequent 
rains.  He  says  further  that  they  learned  from  the  natives  that  their  king 
comes  to  the  river  when  it  begins  to  flood  and  sacrifices  to  it  black  bulls 
and  horses,  white  being  less  esteemed  than  their  own  hue  of  black  among 
the  Indians ;  and  that  after  those  sacrifices  he  sinks  in  the  river  a  measure 
such  as  they  measure  wheat  in,  but  made  of  gold.  The  Indians  did  not 
understand  why  the  king  did  so,  but  our  travellers  conjectured  that  the 
measure  was  sunk  either  to  insure  the  measuring  of  abundant  crops  by 
the  farmers,  or  to  impose  due  measure  on  the  river  so  that  it  would  not 
flood  the  land  too  deeply. 

20. 

After  reaching  the  further  side  of  the  river  the  guide  furnished  by 
the  satrap  led  them  by  the  shortest  route  to  Taxila,  where  is  the  residence 
of  the  king  of  India.  Damis  says  that  the  dwellers  on  that  side  of  the 
Indus  wear  garments  made  of  a  native  linen,  and  sandals  made  from 
bark,  and  a  leather  cap  when  it  rains ;  and  that  the  upper  classes  wear  a 
fine  linen  (byssus),  which  they  say  is  obtained  from  a  tree  having  a  stem 
like  the  poplar  and  leaves  like  the  willow.  Apollonius  says  that  he  was 
much  pleased  with  this  byssus  because  it  resembled  the  dingy  cloak  of  a 
philosopher;  and  in  Egypt  too  this  byssus  from  India  is  sold  for  use  in 
many  sacred  ceremonies.  Taxila  is  as  large  a  city  as  Nineveh,  but,  like  the 
Greek  cities,  it  is  only  moderately  fortified  with  walls.  It  is  the  royal  seat 
of  the  monarch  who  rules  the  kingdom  formerly  held  by  Porus.  Outside 
the  walls  they  saw  a  temple  not  much  less  than  one  hundred  feet  high,  built 
of  pink  marble,  wherein  stood  a  shrine,  smaller  than  one  would  expect  in  so 
great  a  pillared  temple,  but  marvelously  elaborated.  On  one  of  the  temple 
walls  were  fastened  bronze  tablets  depicting  the  exploits  of  Porus  and  of 
Alexander;  showing  elephants,  horses,  warriors,  helmets  and  shields  all 
done  in  copper  and  silver  and  gold  and  black  bronze,  while  the  lances  and 
javelins  and  swords  were  all  of  steel;  and  the  artistic  quality  of  the  work 
is  as  excellent  as  if  it  were  done  by  Zeuxis  or  Polygnotus  or  Euphranor, 
who  were  masters  of  shading  and  life-likeness  and  perspective  and  high 
relief.  Damis  says  that  the  way  in  which  those  materials  are  blended  to 
produce  the  effect  of  colors  shows  skill  equal  to  that  of  those  artists.  In 
addition  to  that,  the  design  of  the  work  exhibits  a  very  pleasing  trait  in  the 
giver  of  these  tablets,  for  though  Porus  set  them  up  after  Alexander’s 
death,  the  Macedonian  is  depicted  in  them  as  victorious,  and  showing 
mercy  to  the  wounded  Porus,  returning  to  him  once  more  the  vanquished 
India.  It  is  told  of  Porus  that  he  mourned  the  death  of  Alexander,  lament¬ 
ing  him  as  a  kind  and  generous  sovereign ;  and  that  so  long  as  Alexander 


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49 


lived  after  departing  from  India  Porus  never  issued  any  proclamation  as 
king,  although  Alexander  had  resigned  all  authority  to  him;  and  that  in 
ruling  the  Indians  he  did  not  assume  the  kingly  style,  but  acted  always 
as  a  very  modest  deputy,  endeavoring  in  every  way  to  do  what  Alexander 
would  wish. 

21. 

At  this  point  I  must  find  room  to  tell  more  of  the  traditions  concern¬ 
ing  Porus.  When  Alexander  was  about  to  invade  India,  many  advisers 
urged  Porus  to  seek  allies  among  the  tribes  dwelling  beyond  the  Hyphasis 
and  the  Ganges,  saying  that  the  Macedonian  would  not  fight  all  India,  if 
it  combined  against  him;  but  Porus  answered:'  “If  I  have  such  subjects 
that  they  are  not  able  to  defend  themselves  without  dependence  on  others, 
I  would  better  not  reign  at  all !”  When  word  came  that  Alexander  had 
made  a  captive  of  Darius,  he  said:  “He  has  captured  a  king  but  not  a 
man.”  His  groom  had  trained  an  elephant  for  him  to  ride  in  battle,  and 
told  him :  “This  one  will  take  you  along,  O  King !”  but  Porus  replied : 
“Nay,  I  will  take  him  along,  if  I  am  the  man  I  have  been!”  To  those  who 
begged  him  to  offer  sacrifices  to  the  river,  so  that  it  would  not  float  the 
Macedonian  boats  or  allow  Alexander  to  pass,  he  said :  “That  is  no  prayer 
for  men  with  weapons  in  their  hands.”  After  the  battle,  in  which  he  seemed 
to  Alexander  to  be  really  divine  and  more  than  human,  one  of  his  kinsmen 
said  to  him:  “If  you  had  humbled  yourself  to  Alexander  on  his  arrival, 
Porus,  you  would  not  now  have  been  vanquished  in  battle,  nor  would  so 
many  Indians  have  been  slain,  nor  yourself  have  been  wounded.”  The 
answer  of  Porus  was :  “When  I  heard  that  Alexander  sought  honor,  I 
knew  he  would  think  me  ,a  slave  if  I  submitted  to  him,  but  a  king  if 
I  fought  him;  and  I  would  rather  be  admired  than  pitied.  Neither  was  I 
mistaken,  for  by  showing  myself  to  Alexander  as  I  was,  I  have  lost  all  and 
recovered  all  in  the  same  day.”  Such  a  man  is  this  Indian  described  to  us  ; 
and  they  say  too  that  he  was  the  most  comely  of  his  countrymen,  and  taller 
than  any  man  since  the  heroes  of/ the  Trojan  War,  and  that  he  was  still  a 
youth  when  he  fought  with  Alexander. 

22. 

While  Apollonius  was  waiting  in  the  temple  (for  some  time  passed 
while  word  was  being  sent  to  the  king  that  guests  had  come)  he  said  to 
Damis:  “Is  the  art  of  painting  of  any  value?”  “If  it  is  true  to  nature,” 
answered  Damis.  Then  Apollonius  asked :  “What  does  this  art  accom¬ 
plish?”  and  Damis  replied,  “It  blends  all  sorts  of  colors,  blue  with  green, 
and  white  with  black,  and  red  with  yellow.”  “Very  true,”  said  Apollonius, 
“but  why  does  it  blend  them  ?  Certainly  not  merely  to  set  them  off  against 
each  other  as  women  make  waxwork?”  “To  imitate  something,”  said 


50 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Damis ;  ''to  represent  a  dog,  or  a  horse,  or  a  man,  or  a  ship,  or  anything 
else  under  the  sun.  It  even  represents  the  Sun  himself,  riding  in  a  four- 
horse  chariot  as  he  is  shown  here,  or  carrying  his  fire  across  the  sky,  when 
it  pictures  the  upper-air  and  the  dwelling-places  of  the  gods.”  "Painting, 
then,  is  imitation,  Damis?”  asked  Apollonius.  "Nothing  more,”  he  replied, 
"for  unless  it  succeeds  in  that  it  is  meaningless,  putting  colors  together 
merely  at  random.”  "How  about  those  appearances  we  see  in  the  sky 
when  the  clouds  are  twisted  into  shapes  like  centaurs,  and  goat-stags,  and 
wolves  and  horses  ?”  asked  Apollonius ;  "would  you  not  say  that  such 
things  as  well  are  wrought  by  some  imitative  art?”  "It  would  seem  so,” 
said  Damis.  Apollonius  went  on :  "Then  Zeus  himself  is  an  artist,  Damis, 
who  leaves  the  winged  chariot  in  which  he  rides  while  ruling  the  affairs 
of  gods  and  men,  and  spends  his  time  shaping  such  things  in  sport,  like 
boys  playing  in  the  sand.”  Damis  blushed  to  see  his  opinion  reduced  to 
this  absurdity,  but  Apollonius,  without  ridiculing  him,  for  he  was  never 
discourteous  in  debate,  said:  "Would  you  not  rather  say,  Damis,  that  such 
appearances  in  the  sky  are  accidental,  and  signify  nothing  so  far  as  any 
divine  agency  is  concerned ;  but  that  we  ourselves,  being  naturally  inclined 
to  seek  resemblances,  do  so  shape  and  trace  them  ?”  Damis  replied :  "Let 
us  prefer  that  opinion,  Apollonius,  for  it  is  more  probable  and  much  bet¬ 
ter.”  Apollonius  continued :  "The  art  of  imitation  then  is  two-fold,  Damis, 
and  we  may  say  that  one  of  its  aspects  is  the  art  of  painting,  which  imitates 
both  by  the  imagination  and  the  hand,  whereas  the  other  traces  resem- 
•  blances  by  the  imagination  alone.”  "Not  two-fold,”  said  Damis,  "for  we 
ought  to  say  that  the  first  aspect  is  the  entire  art,  that  is  to  say  the  art  of 
painting  which  creates  by  mind  and  hand,  and  that  the  second  aspect  is 
included  in  this,  since  one  who  is  no  painter  may  conceive  and  shape  pic¬ 
tures  in  his  mind,  when  he  is  incapable  of  reproducing  them  by  his  hand.” 
'Ts  that,  Damis,  because  his  hand  is  disabled  by  some  wound  or  ailment?” 
asked  Apollonius.  "Not  necessarily,”  replied  Damis,  "but  it  may  be  because 
he  has  never  handled  graver,  or  brush,  or  colors,  and  is  entirely  ignorant 
of  painting.”  "Then  we  both  agree  in  this,  Damis,”  said  Apollonius,  "that 
the  faculty  of  imitation  comes  to  men  by  nature,  but  painting  by  art.  The 
same  thing  may  be  said  of  the  plastic  art.  Doubtless  you  do  not  limit  the 
art  of  painting  to  the  use  of  colors ;  for  the  ancient  artists  were  content 
with  one  color,  and  then  the  art  gradually  went  on  to  four,  and  finally  to 
more ;  but  the  art  of  drawing  without  colors,  using  only  light  and  shade 
for  its  effects,  should  also  be  classed  as  painting,  since  these  simple  ele¬ 
ments  also  portray  likeness,  and  form,  and  intelligence,  and  modesty,  and 
audacity,  though  from  their  lack  of  color  they  cannot  reproduce  blood  or 
the  bright  hues  of  hair  or  beard,  but  only  such  outlines  as  differentiate  a 
dark  man  from  a  light  one.  For  instance,  if  we  should  draw  one  of  these 


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51 


Indians  in  chalk  he  would  neverdieless  betray  his  blackness,  for  his  flat 
nose,  and  coarse  hair,  and  prominent  cheek-bones,  and  a  certain  expression 
about  his  eyes,  would  make  what  we  saw  seem  black,  and  would  convey  the 
idea  of  an  Indian  to  any  but  the  most  inattentive  observer.  So  I  would  say 
that  those  who  view  pictures  need  the  imitative  faculty  as  much  as  the 
artist  does,  for  nobody  appreciates  a  painted  horse  or  ox  who  does  not 
have  in  his  mind  a  clear  image  of  the  animal  represented.  No  one  would 
be  a  competent  judge  of  the  Ajax  whom  Timomachus  has  painted  as 
insane,  unless  he  had  formed  a  mental  conception  of  Ajax,  and  how  he  sat 
despairing  and  meditating  suicide  after  slaying  the  sheep  at  Troy.  Now 
these  cunningly  wrought  figures  made  for  Porus  we  must  consider  to  be¬ 
long  not  only  to  the  coppersmith’s  craft,  for  they  are  like  painting;  nor 
only  to  the  art  of  painting,  for  they  are  done  by  metal-workers ;  so  we 
must  think  of  their  creator  as  painter  and  graver  combined;  such  as 
Vulcan  is  described  by  Homer  in  making  the  shield  of  Achilles;  for  like 
that  shield  these  tablets  are  crowded  with  figures  of  slayers  and  the  slain, 
and  you  would  say  that  the  earth  in  them  is  soaked  with  blood,  though  it 
is  made  only  of  copper.” 

23. 

While  he  was  speaking  messengers  came  from  the  king  with  an  inter¬ 
preter  to  say  that  the  king  invited  them  to  be  his  guests  for  three  days, 
but  that  it  was  not  lawful  for  foreigners  to  remain  in  the  city  longer  than 
that ;  and  thereupon  they  conducted  the  party  to  the  palace.  I  have  already 
mentioned  the  walls  which  defend  the  city.  Damis  says  that  it  is  irregularly 
intersected  by  narrow  alleys,  like  Athens,  and  that  it  is  built  up  with  houses 
which  seem  from  outside  to  be  of  only  one  story,  but  on  entering  them 
they  are  found  to  be  excavated  so  that  they  have  as  many  rooms  below 
ground  as  above. 

24. 

They  saw  the  temple  of  the  Sun  in  which  that  elephant  named  Ajax 
had  been  dedicated,  and  in  it  were  seen  statues  of  Alexander  in  gold,  and 
others  of  Porus  in  black  bronze.  Shining  gold  representing  rays  of  the 
Sun  glittered  on  the  red  marble  walls  of  the  temple.  The  inner  shrine 
itself  was  entirely  composed  of  pearls  set  in  the  conventional  patterns 
which  all  barbarians  use  for  sacred  objects. 

25. 

He  says  that  they  found  no  pretentious  decoration  of  the  outside  of 
the  palace,  nor  any  courtiers  or  body-guards,  but  only  a  few  servants  such 
as  might  be  seen  in  the  house  of  any  well-to-do  citizen,  and  some  three  or 
four  persons  who  were  seeking  audience  of  the  king;  and  that  they  were 


52 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


more  pleased  by  this  setting  than  they  had  been  by  the  Babylonian  sumptu¬ 
ousness  ;  and  still  more  so  when  they  went  inside,  for  the  halls  and  porticos 
and  all  the  palace  were  very  simply  furnished. 

26. 

All  this  led  Apollonius  to  believe  that  the  Indian  king  was  a  philoso¬ 
pher,  and  he  said  to  him  through  the  interpreter :  King,  I  am  delighted 

to  see  that  you  cultivate  philosophy.”  “On  the  other  hand,”  said  the  king, 
“I  am  much  more  delighted  that  you  should  have  that  opinion  of  me.” 
Apollonius  inquired:  “Has  this  simplicity  been  enjoined  upon  you  by 
precedent,  or  have  you  yourself  brought  the  throne  back  to  it?”  The  king 
replied:  “I  have  made  our  simple  customs  more  simple;  and  although 
I  possess  more  than  any,  I  am  content  with  little,  and  treat  my  superfluity 
as  belonging  to  my  friends.”  “May  your  wealth  increase,  if  you  prize 
your  friends  higher  than  gold  and  silver,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  they  will 
give  you  great  happiness  in  return.”  “More  than  that,”  said  the  king.  “I 
share  my  wealth  with  my  enemies  too ;  for  with  that  money  I  subsidize 
predatory  barbarians  living  next  my  frontiers  who  used  to  annoy  my  sub¬ 
jects  by  forays;  but  now  by  that  means  they  have  become  a  defense  of  my 
realm,  not  raiding  it  themselves,  and  preventing  depredations  by  other 
barbarians  beyond  them  who  are  savages.”  On  Apollonius  inquiring 
whether  Porus  too  had  paid  such  subsidies,  the  king  answered :  “Porus 
was  fond  of  war,  but  I  of  peace.”  By  this  conversation  he  entirely  won 
Apollonius,  who  was  so  impressed  by  him  that  later,  in  upbraiding  Eu¬ 
phrates  for  conduct  unbecoming  to  a  philosopher  he  exclaimed :  “Let  us 
reverence  the  Indian  Phraotes !”  which  was  the  name  of  that  king. 
Phraotes  thought  as  highly  of  Apollonius,  for  some  time  after,  when  a 
satrap  wished  to  present  the  king  with  a  crown  of  gold  set  with  many- 
colored  gems,  in  return  for  some  great  favor  shown  him,  the  king  said : 
“Even  if  I  had  ever  been  a  man  who  desired  such  trinkets,  I  would  refuse 
it  now,  and  toss  it  off  my  head,  since  I  have  met  Apollonius.  But  as  I 
never  did  enjoy  being  crowned  with  such  things,  how  could  I  be  so  un¬ 
mindful  of  that  noble  guest,  and  so  forgetful  of  myself,  as  to  wear  them 
now  ? 

Apollonius  asked  him  about  his  mode  of  life,  and  he  replied :  “I  drink 
no  more  wine  than  I  pour  in  libation  to  the  Sun ;  and  I  let  others  eat  the 
game  I  take  in  hunting;  the  exercise  I  get  from  it  being  all  I  want.  My 
food  is  made  from  vegetables,  and  palm-tree  pith,  and  dates,  with  what 
plants  the  river  water  irrigates.  I  get  much  of  my  food  from  trees  which  I 
cultivate  with  these  hands  of  mine.”  Apollonius  was  vastly  pleased  to 
hear  all  this,  and  often  glanced  at  Damis. 


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53 


27. 

After  giving  them  full  information  concerning  the  route  which  led 
to  the  Brahmins,  the  king  gave  orders  that  the  Babylonian  guide  should 
be  kept  as  his  guest,  as  he  usually  did  with  those  coming  from  Babylon ; 
but  that  the  guide  furnished  by  the  Indian  satrap  should  be  given  travel¬ 
ling  money  and  sent  back.  Then  taking  Apollonius  by  the  hand,  and  dis¬ 
missing  the  interpreter,  he  said:  “Will  you  not  invite  me  to  be  your 
table-companion  He  asked  this  in  Greek,  and  when  Apollonius  inquired 
with  surprise  why  he  had  not  spoken  that  language  from  the  first,  he 
answered :  “I  feared  that  I  would  seem  presumptuous,  as  if  I  had  forgot¬ 
ten  who  I  am,  and  that  nature  meant  me  for  a  barbarian ;  but  since  I  see 
that  I  please  you  as  you  do  me,  I  cannot  restrain  myself  any  longer,  and 
I  will  ascertain  in  many  interviews  with  you  how  much  conversational 
Greek  I  know.”  “But  why  did  you  not  ask  me  to  be  your  table-companion, 
instead  of  asking  me  to  invite  you  ?”  inquired  Apollonius ;  and  the  king 
replied :  “Because  I  think  you  more  distinguished  than  I  am,  for  wisdom 
has  a  more  truly  royal  dignity  than  kings.”  Thereupon  he  led  Apollonius 
and  his  companions  to  the  place  where  he  was  accustomed  to  bathe.  This 
was  a  garden  about  a  stadium  in  length,  in  the  centre  of  which  a  bathing- 
pool  had  been  hollowed  out  to  receive  some  springs  of  cool  sweet  water, 
and  on  each  side  was  a  gymnasium  where  the  king  exercised  with  javelin 
and  quoits  in  Greek  fashion ;  for  he  kept  himself  in  good  condition,  being 
twenty-seven  years  of  age,  in  the  bloom  of  life,  and  in  vigorous  training. 
After  taking  enough  exercise,  he  would  dive  into  the  pool  and  swim. 
When  the  party  had  bathed  here,  they  went  to  a  banquet  wearing  wreaths 
of  flowers,  for  such  is  the  custom  of  the  Indians  when  they  dine  in  the 
king’s  hall. 

28. 

I  will  here  set  down  something  of  their  mode  of  feasting  which  is 
minutely  described  by  Damis.  The  king  reclines  on  a  couch,  and  near  him 
recline  not  more  than  five  of  his  kindred,  but  all  the  other  guests  sit  during 
the  meal.  A  circular  table  is  set  in  the  midst,  which  is  about  knee-high,  like 
an  altar,  of  a  sizeVhich  thirty  men  could  encircle  by  taking  hands  like  a 
chorus.  On  this  table  are  scattered  laurel  leaves,  and  another  leaf  like 
myrtle,  which  the  Indians  use  as  perfume.  Fish  and  fowl  are  set  on  it, 
with  lions,  antelopes  and  swine,  served  up  whole ;  but  only  the  hind-quarters 
of  tigers,  for  they  are  unwilling  to  eat  the  rest  of  that  animal,  because  they 
say  that  as  soon  as  it  is  born  it  lifts  its  fore-paws  to  the  rising  sun.  Each 
guest  rising  in  turn  goes  from  his  seat  to  the  table  and  selects  or  carves  for 
himself  his  portion  of  the  dishes  set  on  it,  which  he  brings  back  to  his 
place  and  eats  there,  accompanying  it  with  a  great  deal  of  bread.  When 


54 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 

I 

all  have  had  enough  to  eat,  gold  and  silver  bowls  are  passed  around  to 
them,  one  for  every  ten  guests,  from  which  they  drink,  stooping  their 
heads  to  it  like  sheep  at  a  trough.  During  the  drinking  they  introduce 
some  sports  which  are  hazardous  but  exciting,  and  requiring  skill.  One 
of  them  is  for  a  boy  to  leap  nimbly  into  the  air  like  a  stage-dancer,  at  the 
same  instant  that  a  spear  is  thrown  up  at  him  when  he  is  well  off  the 
ground  which  the  boy  dodges  by  turning  a  somersault  over  it,  but  if  he 
makes  the  least  error  he  risks  a  wound.  The  thrower  of  the  spear  goes 
about  among  the  guests  beforehand  to  show  them  the  weapon  and  let  them 
try  its  edg'e.  Other  sports  at  such  feasts  are  to  shoot  an  arrow  through 
a  finger-ring,  or  at  a  hair,  or  to  outline  with  arrows  the  archer’s  own  son 
as  he  stands  against  a  plank ;  and  they  succeed  in  all  these  feats  even  when 
they  are  intoxicated. 

29. 

The  guests  near  Damis  were  astonished  by  these  exploits,  and  espe¬ 
cially  admired  the  marksmanship,  but  Apollonius,  who  was  reclining  near 
the  king  and  partaking  of  his  dishes,  paid  little  attention  to  the  sports,  and 
turning  to  the  king  he  asked:  “Tell  me,  O  King,  how  did  you  learn  the 
Greek  language  so  well  ?  And  whence  in  this  country  did  you  derive  your 
philosophy?  I  suppose  you  are  not  indebted  to  teachers  for  it,  as  it  is 
hardly  likely  that  there  are  any  teachers  of  such  learning  among  the 
Indians.”  Then  the  king  said  smilingly :  “The  ancients  used  to  ask  every 
one  who  came  to  them  in  ships  whether  he  was  a  pirate,  so  general  did 
they  think  that  crime  to  be,  although  so  heinous.  But  you  seem  to  me  to 
ask  all  you  meet  whether  they  are  not  philosophers,  you  are  so  ready  to 
give  credit  to  the  first  comer  for  that  most  precious  gift  of  gods  to  men. 
I  am  aware  too  that  among  your  fellow  countrymen  being  a  philosopher 
is  much  the  same  as  being  a  pirate;  for  few  of  them  are  to  be  found  like 
you,  and  it  is  said  that  most  of  them  have  stripped  off  their  philosophy 
from  someone  else  like  a  cloak;  and  putting  it  awkwardly  on  themselves, 
they  strut  proudly  about  trailing  their  borrowed  finery.  And  just  as  pirates 
revel  while  they  know  that  retribution  will  soon  overtake  them,  so  these 
philosophical  impostors  are  said  to  indulge  in  gluttony  and  debauchery  and 
display.  I  suppose  the  reason  of  their  abundance  is  that  your  laws  punish 
with  death  the  counterfeiter  of  money,  and  impose  some  severe  penalty  on 
the  substituter  of  a  spurious  child ;  but  no  law  of  yours,  so  far  as  I  know, 
penalizes  those  who  substitute  a  spurious  philosophy,  or  counterfeit  it,  and 
no  magistrate  has  jurisdiction  of  such  an  offense.” 

30. 

“Among  us  few  become  philosophers,  and  all  who  do  must  undergo 
this  test.  When  the  lad  is  eighteen  years  old,  which  I  believe  is  the  age 


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55 


of  manhood  with  you  as  it  is  with  us,  he  must  go  across  the  Hyphasis  river 
to  those  Sages  to  whom  you  are  going;  but  before  doing  so  he  must 
publicly  announce  that  he  intends  to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  philoso¬ 
phy,  and  any  one  is  at  liberty  to  forbid  that  intention,  if  the  candidate 
shall  not  have  come  there  pure.  By  pure  I  mean  in  the  first  place  one 
whose  father  and  mother  are  blameless,  and  who  for  three  generations  has 
had  no  ancestor  who  was  lewd,  or  intemperate,  or  dishonest  in  business. 
If  no  blot  or  blemish  appears  in  his  forebears,  the  lad  himself  must  be 
investigated  as  to  his  personal  qualities,  to  ascertain  whether  he  has  a  good 
memory,  and  has  a  really  modest  nature  or  is  merely  assuming  it;  then 
whether  he  is  intemperate,  or  greedy,  or  boastful,  or  giddy,  or  self- 
conceited,  or  foul-mouthed ;  and  if  he  is  submissive  to  his  father  and  his 
mother,  to  his  masters  and  his  tutors ;  in  short,  whether  or  not  he  badly 
employs  his  youth.  So  far  as  relates  to  his  ancestors  and  parents,  informa¬ 
tion  is  obtained  from  witnesses,  and  from  the  public  records ;  for  when 
any  Indian  dies  a  magistrate,  on  whom  the  duty  is  imposed  by  law,  goes 
to  his  house  and  enters  on  his  official  tablets  how  the  man  has  lived.  If 
the  magistrate  should  fail  to  go,  or  should  not  make  the  correct  record,  he 
would  be  disqualified  from  ever  holding  office  again,  for  having  falsified  a 
human  life.  The  youth’s  disposition  is  ascertained  by  inspecting  him;  for 
a  man’s  eyes  reveal  a  great  deal  of  his  character,  and  many  indications 
impressed  upon  the  eyebrows  and  cheeks  are  to  be  noted  and  considered, 
from  which  those  versed  in  reading  human  nature  can  perceive  a  man’s 
disposition  like  a  reflection  in  a  mirror.  In  order  that  philosophy  may  be 
highly  prized  among  us,  and  that  such  an  ambition  may  be  held  in  honor 
by  the  Indian  youths,  it  is  necessary  to  try  the  aspirants  in  every  way  and 
to  subject  them  to  many  tests.  This  gives  you  a  general  idea  how  we 
select  such  students  for  their  education,  and  how  we  verify  their  professed 
devotion  to  philosophy ;  and  now  I  will  tell  you  my  own  experience.” 

31. 

‘‘My  grandfather  was  a  king  of  the  same  name  as  myself,  but  my 
father  v/as  a  private  citizen.  When  he  was  left  an  orphan  in  his  boyhood 
two  of  his  kinsmen  became  regents  to  rule  on  his  behalf,  according  to 
Indian  law,  and  they  administered  his  government  so  badly  and  so  tyran¬ 
nically,  by  the  Sun !  that  they  became  unpopular  and  the  disaffection  was 
general.  They  were  sacrificing  to  the  Indus  at  the  usual  celebration  when 
certain  conspirators  of  the  nobility  attacked  and  slew  them,  and  then 
seizing  upon  the  throne  shared  it  among  themselves.  His  kinsmen  feared 
for  my  father’s  safety,  as  he  was  not  yet  sixteen  years  old,  so  they  sent  him 
across  the  Hyphasis  river  to  the  king  of  that  country,  who  ruled  more 
subjects  than  I  do,  and  whose  realm  is  much  wealthier  than  this.  He 


56 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


offered  to  adopt  my  father  as  his  son,  but  my  father  refused,  saying  that 
he  would  not  strive  against  his  fate,  which  had  already  deprived  him  of 
one  kingdom ;  and  he  begged  the  king  to  allow  him  to  go  to  those  Sages 
whom  you  are  to  visit,  in  order  to  learn  from  them  their  philosophy, 
whereby  he  might  more  easily  endure  his  personal  misfortunes.  The  king 
then  offered  to  replace  him  on  his  father’s  throne,  but  he  replied :  Tf  you 
ever  see  that  I  have  really  become  a  philosopher,  you  may  reinstate  me; 
otherwise  please  leave  me  as  I  am.’  Thereupon  the  king  went  with  him  in 
person  to  the  Sages  and  offered  them  high  favor  if  they  would  undertake 
the  lad’s  education,  since  he  showed  already  so  brilliant  a  mind.  They 
were  more  influenced  by  the  promising  qualities  which  they  discerned  in 
the  pupil  than  by  anything  the  king  could  offer  them,  in  deciding  to  instruct 
him  in  their  philosophy ;  and  they  became  his  willing  teachers,  and  he  their 
eager  scholar.  Seven  years  later  the  king  fell  mortally  ill,  and  sending  for 
my  father,  he  associated  him  in  the  kingship  with  his  own  son,  and  be¬ 
trothed  to  him  his  marriageable  daughter.  After  his  protector’s  death  my 
father  perceived  that  the  king’s  son  was  fond  of  adulation,  and  of  wine, 
and  had  other  similar  frailties,  besides  being  very  jealous  of  himself;  so 
he  said  to  him :  ‘Take  all  the  kingdom  and  rule  alone,  for  it  is  absurd  that 
one  who  could  not  keep  his  own  throne  should  rashly  presume  to  intrude 
himself  into  another’s.  Only  give  me  your  sister  and  I  will  ask  no  more  of 
your  kingdom.’  Having  obtained  her  in  marriage,  he  passed  his  life  near 
the  Sages,  in  seven  pleasant  towns  which  the  king  had  given  to  his  sister  as 
her  dowry.  I  was  born  of  this  marriage,  and  when  I  was  grounded  in 
Greek  literature  my  father  took  me  to  the  Sages,  sooner  perhaps  than  my 
age  justified,  for  I  was  then  only  twelve  years  old;  but  they  taught  me  as 
if  I  were  their  owm  son,  for  they  much  prefer  pupils  who  come  to  them 
instructed  in  Greek  literature,  as  being  already  united  with  them  by 
similarity  of  tastes. 

t 

32. 

“My  parents  dying  one  after  the  other  when  I  was  nineteen,  the  Sages 
advised  me  to  go  to  my  towns  and  look  after  my  property ;  but  before  I 
reached  them  my  good  uncle  had  already  deprived  me  of  them,  not  even 
leaving  to  me  the  estates  which  my  father  had  bought  with  his  own  money, 
and  asserting  that  all  these  properties  belonged  to  the  Crown,  and  that  as 
for  myself,  it  was  a  great  favor  that  he  allowed  me  to  live.  Through  con¬ 
tributions  from  my  mother’s  freedmen,  I  managed  to  live  modestly  with 
four  slaves.  I  was  reading  the  tragedy  of  the  Heracleidae  one  day,  when 
a  courier  came  from  here,  bringing  a  letter  from  an  intimate  friend  of  my 
father,  which  summoned  me  across  the  Hydraotes  river  to  join  him  in  the 
project  of  recovering  this  kingdom  for  me,  and  saying  that  he  had  great 


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57 


hopes  of  success  if  I  acted  promptly.  It  really  seemed  as  if  some  god  had 
suggested  to  me  that  tragedy  which  I  was  reading,  and  I  followed  the 
omen.  Crossing  the  river,  I  learned  that  one  of  those  usurpers  of  the  throne 
had  died,  and  the  other  was  besieged  in  this  very  palace.  I  hastened  my 
advance  accordingly,  and  in  every  village  I  came  to  I  proclaimed  whose 
son  I  was,  and  that  I  had  come  to  recover  my  kingdom.  The  villagers 
everywhere  took  up  my  cause  and  joyfully  acknowledged  me,  thinking 
me  very  like  my  grandfather,  and  they  escorted  me  with  sword  and  spear, 
so  that  we  grew  in  number  daily.  When  at  last  we  reached  these  city  gates 
the  guards  there  received  me  so  enthusiastically  that  they  came  to  wel¬ 
come  me  outside  the  walls,  bearing  torches  which  they  had  lighted  at  the 
altars  of  the  Sun;  and  they  marched  hither  with  me,  singing  in  chorus 
paeans  to  my  father  and  my  grandfather.  The  drone  inside  the  palace 
they  strangled  on  the  city  wall,  in  spite  of  my  remonstrances  that  he 
should  not  suffer  such  a  disgraceful  death.” 

33. 

Commenting  on  this  story,  Apollonius  said :  “You  have  exactly  re¬ 
produced  the  return  of  the  Heracleidse,  and  we  should  acknowledge  the 
divine  providence  of  the  gods,  in  so  revealing  themselves  as  the  allies  of  ♦ 
a  worthy  man  returning  to  claim  his  own.  But  I  would  like  you  to  en¬ 
lighten  me  on  one  point  about  the  Sages.  Are  they  the  same  men  who 
philosophized  to  Alexander  about  the  heavens,  when  they  had  been  taken 
prisoner  and  were  brought  before  him?”  The  king  replied:  “No;  those 
were  the  Oxydracans,  which  are  a  tribe  that  still  lives  independently,  and 
is  very  quarrelsome,  though  they  claim  to  cultivate  philosophy,  of  which 
they  really  know  very  little.  The  true  Sages  dwell  between  the  Hyphasis 
and  the  Ganges,  in  a  region  which  Alexander  did  not  reach;  not  because 
he  was  afraid  of  them,  but  probably  because  the  omens  were  not  propitious. 
Even  if  he  had  passed  the  Hyphasis,  and  had  succeeded  in  overrunning 
their  territory,  he  never  could  have  taken  the  tower  which  they  inhabit, 
if  he  had  commanded  ten  thousand  Achilleses  and  thirty  thousand  Ajaxes. 
The  Sages  do  not  contend  in  battle  with  invaders,  but  they  sweep  them 
away  with  hurricanes  and  thunderbolts,  for  they  are  holy  and  beloved  of 
the  gods.  The  tradition  is  that  when  Bacchus  and  the  Egyptian  Hercules 
overran  India  they  entered  that  region  with  all  their  forces,  and  made 
battering  rams  with  which  they  tried  to  storm  the  Sages’  tower ;  and  that 
the  Sages  made  no  apparent  resistance,  but  sat  there  serenely  until  the 
assailants  drew  too  near,  when  a  great  wind  thrust  them  back,  and  light¬ 
ning  zigzagging  down  crashed  through  their  defenses.  Then  Hercules  is 
said  to  have  flung  away  in  his  flight  the  identical  shield  of  gold  which  the 
Sages  still  keep  hung  up  in  a  shrine ;  and  this  they  do  not  merely  out  of 


58 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


respect  for  Hercules,  but  because  of  the  device  on  the  shield,  which  depicts 
Hercules  marking  out  the  earth’s  limits  at  Gibraltar,  and  setting  up  the 
mountains  there  as  pillars  to  exclude  the  ocean.  This  proves  that  it  was 
not  the  Theban  Hercules,  but  the  Egyptian,  who  went  to  Gibraltar  and 
there  established  the  boundaries  of  the  earth.” 

34. 

A  song,  to  flute  accompaniment,  interrupted  the  conversation  at  this 
point,  and  on  Apollonius’  asking  the  king  the  meaning  of  this  diversion, 
he  answered :  “When  the  king  goes  to  bed,  the  Indians  sing  to  him  their 
exhortations  to  have  fortunate  dreams,  and  to  wake  good-tempered,  and 
kind  to  his  subjects.”  “But  what  is  your  opinion  of  the  proceeding?” 
asked  Apollonius,  “for  this  flute-playing  is  addressed  to  you.”  “I  do  not 
make  light  of  it,”  replied  the  king.  “It  is  a  custom  which  I  must  comply 
with  respectfully ;  but  the  exhortation  is  superfluous  for  me,  because  a 
king’s  moderation  and  fairness  give  him  more  pleasure  than  they  do  to  his 
subjects.”  After  this  conversation  they  went  to  their  rest. 

35. 

At  early  dawn  the  king  unannounced  entered  the  bedroom  v/here 
Apollonius  and  his  companions  slept,  and  feeling  his  way  to  the  Master’s 
bed,  addressed  him,  asking  what  he  was  meditating  upon,  “for  I  suppose 
you  are  not  asleep,”  said  he,  “because  you  drink  only  water  and  despise 
wine.”  “Do  you  think  then  that  water-drinkers  do  not  sleep?”  asked 
Apollonius.  The  king  replied :  “That  they  sleep,  yes,  but  their  slumber 
is  light,  and  might  be  said  to  rest  only  on  their  eyelids  and  not  on  their 
minds.”  “Nay,  on  both,”  rejoined  Apollonius, ‘“and  perhaps  more  on  their 
minds ;  for  unless  the  mind  is  at  rest,  the  eyes  will  not  fall  asleep  either. 
That  is  why  madmen  cannot  sleep,  because  of  their  mental  agitation ;  and 
as  their  frenzy  shifts  from  one  delusion  to  another,  their  glare  grows  more 
baleful  and  wilder,  like  that  of  sleepless  dragons.  Since  the  question  ex¬ 
plains  the  function  of  sleep  and  the  nature  of  its  revelations  to  men,  O 
King,  let  us  ascertain  in  what  respect  a  water-drinker  is  worse  off  than  a 
wine-drinker,  in  the  matter  of  sleeping.”  “Do  not  quibble,”  replied  the 
king.  “I  grant  you  that  a  drunkard  certainly  will  not  sleep  well,  because 
his  disordered  mind  excites  him  and  confuses  him ;  so  that  all  intoxicated 
persons  who  try  to  sleep  feel  now  raised  to  the  ceiling,  and  then  dropped 
under  the  floor,  and  dizzy  all  the  time ;  so  that  they  have  all  the  sensations 
of  Ixion.  My  idea  is  not  that  a  toper  sleeps  well,  but  that  a  moderate  wine- 
drinker  will  do  so,  and  that  he  will  do  it  much  better  than  a  total 
abstainer.” 


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59 


36. 

t 

Apollonius  called  out  to  Daniis :  “Here  is  a  very  acute  debater 
speaking  to  me ;  a  strong  wrestler  in  dialectics !”  “So  I  perceive,”  said 
Damis,  “and  your  telling  me  that,  after  I  have  listened  to  him,  is  very  like 
what  they  call  kicking  a  bruise.  His  argument  greatly  appeals  to  me,  and 
it  is  late  enough  now  for  you  to  wake  up,  and  go  through  with  the  dis¬ 
cussion.”  Apollonius  sat  up  in  bed  and  said :  “I  will  follow  closely  in 
your  tracks,  and  show  you  how  great  an  advantage  we  water-drinkers 
have  in  the  matter  of  refreshing  sleep.  You  have  expressed  very  well 
how  disturbed  are  the  minds  of  drunkards,  and  how  they  are  not  far 
removed  from  insanity;  for  we  all  know  that  they  think  they  see  twin 
moons  and  twin  suns.  But  those  who  have  drunk  less,  while  they  are 
quite  sober  and  have  no  such  illusions,  are  nevertheless  enlivened  and  ex¬ 
hilarated  by  their  wine,  very  often  when  they  have  no  especial  occasion 
for'  gaiety.  Men  in  that  condition  sometimes  imagine  how  well  they 
would  argue  cases  in  court,  though  they  have  never  uttered  a  word  in 
court  in  their  lives ;  and  they  fancy  themselves  wealthy,  when  they  have 
not  a  penny.  And  yet  such  fancies  are  of  the  nature  of  insanity,  O  King. 
Joy  itself  may  disturb  the  mind,  and  I  have  known  many  men  who  could 
not  sleep  because  of  some  great  good  fortune,  but  would  wake  up  with  a 
start;  whence  comes  the  proverb  that  riches  bring  cares.  Some  soporifics 
are  known,  which,  if  swallowed  or  rubbed  on  the  body,  make  a  man  sleep 
stretched  out  like  a  corpse.  After  such  a  slumber  one  is  dazed  when  he 
wakes,  and  does  not  know  where  he  is.  You  will  readily  concede  then,  un¬ 
less  you  prefer  argument  to  decision,  that  any  potion  which  is  swallowed, 
or  rather  which  is  poured  into  mind  and  body  at  the  same  time,  cannot 
induce  genuine  and  natural  sleep,  for  it  will  either  be  profound  and 
death-like,  or  be  restless  and  broken  by  dreams,  which  are  intrusive  even  if 
they  happen  to  be  pleasant.  On  the  other  hand,  those  who  drink  water  as  I 
do  see  things  as  they  are,  and  neither  imagine  nor  describe  things  which 
do  not  exist,  and  while  showing  themselves  neither  too  buoyant,  nor 
plunged  in  stupor  or  silliness,  nor  bursting  with  unreasonable  mirth,  they 
are  sober  and  rational,  as  clear-headed  and  consistent  in  the  evening  as 
when  the  market-place  is  crowded ;  and'  they  are  not  drowsy  even  if  they 
sit  up  half  the  night  to  study,  because  their  sleep  does  not  overcome  them, 
as  it  crushes  down  like  a  tyrant  the  head  heavy  with  wine.  They  are 
always  alert  and  masters  of  themselves,  and  when  they  go  to  bed  they  fall 
asleep  at  once  with  unclouded  mind,  neither  elated  by  prosperity  nor 
despairing  in  adversity ;  for  a  sober  head  is  equal  to  either  fortune,  and  is 
unl)alanced  by  neither  extreme  of  feeling,  so  that  it  sleeps  sweetly  and 
wakes  from  its  slumbers  without  any  aches.” 


60 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


37. 

“Then  too  the  man  whose  mind  is  not  hazy  with  wine  reads  more 
clearly  the  presages  of  dreams,  which  are  held  to  be  the  nearest  to  the 
divine  of  all  human  experiences ;  for  he  receives  and  observes  them 
undefiled.  For  this  reason  those  men  who  explain  dreams,  whom  the  poets 
call  interpreters  of  visions,  will  not  attempt  to  explain  any  vision  before  in¬ 
quiring  at  what  time  it  appeared.  If  it  was  seen  early  in  the  morning,  in  the 
sleep  toward  dawn,  their  conclusion  is  that  it  was  the  forecast  of  a  clari¬ 
fied  mind,  which  had  slept  off  its  intoxication  of  the  previous  evening; 
but  if  the  vision  has  appeared  during  the  first  sleep,  or  in  the  middle  of 
the  night,  when  the  dreamer  was  still  oppressed  and  sunk  in  wine,  they 
wisely  decline  to  interpret  it.  I  have  evidence  that  the  gods  are  of  that 
opinion  too,  and  that  they  grant  the  power  of  prophecy  to  none  but  sober 
minds.  Amphiaraus  was  once  a  soothsayer  among  the  Greeks,  O  King.”  “I 
have  heard  of  him,”  said  the  king,  “if  you  refer  to  the  son  of  Oicles,  whom 
the  earth  swallowed  up  alive  on  his  return  from  Thebes.”  “It  was  he,  O 
King,”  said  Apollonius;  “and  he  now  utters  oracles  at  Athens,  and  sends 
them  in  visions  to  those  who  consult  him.  His  priests  interdict  the  sup¬ 
pliant  from  food  for  one  day,  and  from  wine  for  three  days,  so  that  he 
may  receive  those  visions  with  a  clear  intelligence.  Now  if  wine  were 
a  suitable  drink  to  induce  sleep,  the  wise  Amphiaraus  would  certainly 
have  directed  his  devotees  to  be  brought  to  his  shrine  after  a  different 
preparation,  and  as  full  of  wine  as  a  jar.  I  could  cite  many  other  ora¬ 
cles  which  are  celebrated  among  the  Greeks  and  among  barbarians,  in 
which  the  priest  gives  responses  from  the  tripod  after  drinking  water,  but 
never  after  wine.  For  that  matter  you  may  even  regard  me,  and  all 
other  water-drinkers,  as  being  divinely  inspired,  O  King;  for  when  we 
are  possessed  by  the  Nymphs  we  revel  in  sobriety,  as  the  Bacchantes  do 
in  wine.”  Then  the  king  said :  “Will  you  accept  me  too  as  a  fellow- 
reveller  of  yours?”  And  Apollonius  replied:  “If  it  will  not  make  you 
seem  to  your  subjects  lacking  in  royalty;  for  in  a  king  a  moderate  and 
somewhat  relaxed  philosophy  makes  an  admirable  combination,  as  you 
yourself  exemplify;  whereas,  if  over-strict  and  carried  to  an  extreme, 
it  might  seem  beneath  your  station,  and  the  evil-disposed  might  even  call 
it  an  affectation.” 

38. 

Conversing  thus  they  went  out  of  doors,  as  it  was  by  that  time 
broad  day-light.  Apollonius  was  aware  that  the  king  had  appointments 
to  keep  with  envoys,  and  other  similar  duties  to  discharge,  so  he  said : 
“Do  what  your  throne  requires  of  you,  O  King,  and  leave  me  to  the  Sun 
for  the  present,  for  I  must  make  my  accustomed  praye;rs  to  him.”  “May 


BOOK  TWO 


61 


he  listen  favorably  to  your  prayers,”  said  the  king,  “whereby  he  will  show 
favor  to  all  to  whom  philosophy  is  dear.  I  will  await  your  return  before 
deciding  some  controversies  in  which  your  advice  will  be  of  great 
assistance.” 

39. 

On  returning  to  the  king  later  in  the  morning  Apollonius  asked  what 
cases  he  had  decided,  and  the  king  replied :  “I  have  rendered  no  deci¬ 
sions  today,  as  the  omens  were  not  favorable.”  Apollonius  inquired : 
“Do  you  then  inspect  omens  before  deciding  cases,  as  you  do  before 
undertaking  journeys  or  wars?”  “Yes,  by  Zeus!”  said  the  king;  “for 
there  is  danger  there  too,  that  the  judge  may  stray  from  justice.”  It 
seemed  to  Apollonius  that  the  king  had  again  spoken  well,  and  he  asked 
him  what  controversy  he  was  to  decide,  saying:  “I  see  that  you  have 
not  made  up  your  mind,  and  are  doubtful  how  to  decide  it.”  “I  confess 
that  I  am  uncertain,”  said  the  king,  “and  that  is  why  I  need  your  advice. 
The  facts  are  that  one  man  sold  another  a  field  in  which  there  was  a 
buried  treasure,  which  was  unknown  to  both  of  them.  Sometime  after 
the  transfer  the  ground  of  the  field  gaped  open,  revealing  a  chest  full  of 
gold,  which  the  seller  claims  because  he  would  not  have  sold  the  land  at 
any  such  price,  if  he  had  known  that  it  contained  enough  to  support  him; 
and  the  buyer  claims  ownership  of  everything  found  in  the  field  as  in¬ 
cluded  in  his  conveyance  of  it.  The  contention  of  each  of  them  seems 
to  be  fair,  but  it  would  be  weak-minded  in  me  to  order  them  to  divide 
the  gold  between  them,  in  the  way  any  old  woman  would  decide  the 
question.”  Apollonius  said :  “It  is  evident  that  they  are  no  philosophers, 
since  they  wrangle  over  money.  The  best  way  for  you  to  solve  the 
problem,  O  King,  is  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  gods’  first  care  is  for  sincere-^ 
philosophers ;  and  their  second  is  for  upright  men,  who  deal  fairly  by 
their  fellows.  To  philosophers  they  impart  a  clear  understanding  of 
things  human  and  divine ;  and  to  the  upright  in  the  second  class  they  give 
a  sufficient  livelihood,  so  that  they  may  not  be  tempted  to  dishonesty  by 
want  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  My  advice  is  therefore  that  those  two  men 
should  be  weighed  as  in  a  balance,  O  King,  and  that  the  past  life  of  each 
of  them  should  be  investigated ;  for  I  believe  the  gods  would  not  have 
deprived  the  seller  of  the  field  if  he  had  not  been  vicious;  nor  would 
they  have  revealed  to  the  other  what  was  hidden  underground,  if  he  had 
not  been  a  better  man  than  the  vendor.”  Next  day,  when  both  suitors  came 
to  plead  their  cause,  it  was  learned  that  the  seller  was  a  violent  man,  who 
had  neglected  sacrifices  which  he  should  have  made  to  the  gods  in  that 
very  field ;  but  the  purchaser  was  shown  to  be  fair-minded,  and  a  most 
devout  worshipper  of  the  gods.  So  the  opinion  of  Apollonius  was  justi- 


62 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


fied,  and  judgment  was  given  in  favor  of  the  upright  defendant,  that 
the  gods  had  bestowed  that  treasure  on  him. 

40. 

After  the  case  had  been  decided  Apollonius  drew  near  to  the  king 
and  said:  “This  is  the  third  of  the  three  days  for  which  you  made  me 
your  guest,  O  King,  and  tomorrow  I  must  leave  the  city,  to  comply  with 
the  law.”  The  king  replied :  “The  law  does  not  expel  you  so  soon,  for  you 
arrived  in  the  afternoon  and  so  you  can  stay  all  day  tomorrow.”  “I  am 
delighting  in  your  hospitality,”  said  Apollonius,  “but  you  seem  to  be  evad¬ 
ing  the  law,  out  of  partiality  for  me.”  “I  would  like  to  nullify  it  altogether, 
out  of  partiality  for  you,”  said  the  king ;  “but  tell  me  this,  Apollonius :  did 
not  those  camels,  which  they  say  you  rode,  carry  you  here  all  the  way  from 
Babylon?”  “They  certainly  did,”  said  Apollonius,  “Vardanes  supplied 
us  with  them.”  “Are  they  able  to  carry  you  any  further  then,  after  having 
already  travelled  so  many  stadia  from  Babylon?”  asked  the  king.  Apollo¬ 
nius  did  not  reply,  but  Damis  said :  “The  Master  has  not  yet  any  notion 
how  far  he  must  go,  or  what  sort  of  people  he  is  to  depend  on  for  hospi¬ 
tality  on  the  road.  He  fancies  the  journey  to  the  Indian  Sages  to  be 
child’s-play,  as  if  he  would  find  Vardanes  and  you  everywhere.  He  does 
not  admit  to  you  what  the  condition  of  the  camels  really  is,  but  they  are 
actually  in  so  sorry  a  plight  that  they  ought  rather  to  be  carried  by  us, 
than  we  by  them.  We  need  others,  for  if  these  should  give  out  any¬ 
where  in  the  deserts  of  India,  we  would  have  to  stay  there  too,  driving 
vultures  and  wolves  from  the  camels,  but  with  no  one  to  drive  them  from 
us,  when  we  shall  have  perished  beside  them.”  Thereupon  the  king  said : 
“I  will  see  that  that  does  not  happen,  for  I  will  give  you  fresh  ones  (I  think 
you  will  need  four),  and  the  satrap  of  the  Indus  shall  send  the  four  others 
back  to  Babylon.  I  have  a  herd  of  camels  near  the  Indus  which  are  all 
white.”  “And  will  you  not  furnish  a  guide  as  well,  O  King?”  asked 
Damis.  “Of  course,”  said  the  king,  “and  I  will  give  the  guide  a  camel 
and  travelling-money;  and  moreover  I  will  write  to  larchas,  the  oldest  of 
the  Sages,  to  treat  Apollonius  as  one  in  no  way  inferior  to  himself,  and  to 
receive  you  others  as  philosophers  and  companions  of  this  godlike  man.”  ♦ 
The  king  then  offered  them  gold  and  jewels  and  garments  and  many  other 
such  things.  Apollonius  said  that  they  had  money  enough  left,  of  that 
which  Vardanes  had  given  their  guide  without  their  knowledge,  but  that 
they  would  accept  the  garments,  because  they  reminded  them  of  well-worn 
Attic  cloaks.  Then  picking  up  one  of  the  jewels,  he  exclaimed:  “O 
rarest  of  stones !  How  opportunely  and  providentially  have  I  discovered 
you !”  recognizing  in  it  apparently  some  hidden  and  divine  virtue.  Damis 
and  his  companions  also  refused  the  gold,  but  they  selected  not  a  few 


BOOK  TWO 


63 


gems  to  dedicate  to  the  gods  after  their  return  home,  whenever  that 
might  be. 

41. 

They  spent  the  next  day  there,  for  the  king  would  not  let  them  go, 
and  he  gave  them  the  following  letter  for  larchas : 

“Phraotes  the  king,  to  his  master  larchas  and  his  companions. 
Greeting : 

‘‘Apollonius,  who  is  himself  a  very  wise  man,  believes  you  to  be 
wiser  than  he,  and  comes  to  you  to  avail  himself  of  your  instruction.  Teach 
him  therefore  all  your  wisdom  before  you  let  him  go.  None  of  your 
teaching  will  be  wasted,  for  he  speaks  and  he  remembers  best  of  all  men. 
Let  him  see  the  throne  on  which  I  sat  when  you  gave  me  this  kingdom, 
father  larchas.  His  companions  too  are  worthy  of  honor  as  followers 
of  such  a  man.  Farewell  to  each  and  all  of  you.” 

42. 

In  two  days  travel  from  Taxila  they  came  to  the  place  where  Porus 
is  said  to  have  fought  with  Alexander,  and  Damis  says  they  saw  there  an 
arch,  leading  into  no  enclosure,  which  had  been  erected  to  commemorate 
that  victory.  On  it  Alexander  is  shown  standing  in  a  four-horse  chariot, 
such  as  he  rode  in  at  Issus  against  the  satraps  of  Darius.  He  says  that  two 
other  arches  are  seen  standing  not  far  apart,  on  one  of  which  is  set  a  statue 
of  Porus,  and  on  the  other  Alexander,  marking  probably  the  spot  where 
they  met  after  the  battle,  for  one  figure  is  shown  making  obeisance  and  the 
other  as  holding  out  his  arms  to  embrace. 

43. 

After  crossing  the  Hydraotes  river  and  passing  through  many  tribes, 
they  reached  the  Hyphasis ;  but  about  thirty  stadia  before  coming  to  that 
river  they  came  upon  altars  bearing  this  inscription:  “To  my  father 
Jupiter  Ammon,  and  to  my  brother  Hercules,  and  to  the  provident  Athene, 
and  to  Olympian  Zeus,  and  to  the  Samothracian  Cabiri,  and  to  the  Sun  of 
India,  and  to  the  Delphic  Apollo.”  Damis  says  that  a  bronze  column  has 
also  been  erected  at  the  same  spot,  inscribed :  “Here  Alexander  halted.” 
We  may  believe  the  altars  to  have  been  set  up  by  Alexander  to  mark  the 
limits  of  his  empire,  but  the  column  was  probably  erected  by  the  Indians 
living  beyond  the  Hyphasis,  to  boast  that  Alexander  had  advanced  no 
further. 


64 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


BOOK  THREE. 

Journey  from  the  Hyphasis — Reception  by  Brahmins — ^^Their  home 
AND  LIFE — Incidents  of  Apollonius’  stay — His  return  by  way 
OF  THE  Persian  gulf  and  the  Euphrates  river  to  Babylon, 
Nineveh,  and  Antioch,  thence  to  Cyprus  and  Paphos. 

1. 

I  extract  from  Damis’  journal  these  items  regarding  the  Hyphasis 
river,  telling  how  it  extends  through  India  and  what  remarkable  things 
it  contains.  The  source  of  this  river  bursts  from  the  plain,  forming  at  once 
a  navigable  stream,  but  further  in  its  course  it  becomes  impassable  for 
boats,  because  close-set  reefs  of  rock  lie  just  under  its  surface,  over  which 
the  water  boils  in  rapids  where  no  boat  can  live.  It  is  as  broad  as  the 
Danube,  which  is  reckoned  the  largest  river  in  Europe,  and  it  has  trees  of 
similar  appearance  growing  on  its  banks ;  but  from  the  Indian  trees  a  sap 
distils  which  the  natives  use  as  a  perfume  at  weddings,  and  if  the  wedding- 
guests  fail  to  anoint  the  bridal-couple  with  this  juice  the  marriage  is  con¬ 
sidered  incomplete,  and  the  union  to  be  unfavored  by  Venus.  Damis  says 
that  the  forests  bordering  on  this  river,  and  the  peacock-fish  peculiar  to  it, 
are  also  sacred  to  Venus.  They  name  that  fish  after  the  bird  because  it  has 
a  blue  crest,  and  spotted  scales,  and  a  golden  tail  which  it  curves  upward  at 
will.  In  this  river  is  found  a  creature  like  a  white  worm,  from  which  an  oil 
is  extracted  which  takes  fire  spontaneously,  and  can  only  be  kept  in  a  glass 
jar.  This  worm  is  caught  for  the  king  exclusively,  to  be  used  by  him  in 
besieging  towns ;  for  when  this  oil  touches  the  stockade  a  fire  starts  which 
is  inextinguishable  by  any  means  devised  by  man. 

2. 

He  says  too  that  wild  asses  are  taken  in  its  marshes,  which  have  a  horn 
in  their  foreheads  with  which  they  fight  like  bulls,  and  not  badly ;  and  that 
the  Indians  make  drinking  cups  from  this  horn,  which  have  such  virtue  that 
the  man  who  drinks  from  one  will  for  one  whole  day  neither  fall  ill,  nor 
feel  pain  if  wounded,  nor  be  burned  by  passing  through  fire,  nor  even  be* 
affected  by  poisons  which  he  could  not  swallow  at  any  other  time  without 
harm.  These  cups  are  reserved  for  the  king,  and  only  the  king  may  hunt 
those  animals.  Apollonius  writes  that  he  saw  this  beast  and  admired  its 
appearance,  and  that  when  Damis  asked  him  if  he  believed  that  story 
about  the  horn  cups,  he  said :  ‘T  will  believe  it  when  I  find  that  the  king 
who  rules  this  country  never  dies.  If  any  one  could  bring  to  me  or  anyone 


BOOK  THREE 


65 


else  a  drink  capable  of  warding  off  illness,  and  so  salutary,  why  should  he 
not  rather  be  expected  to  pour  it  out  for  himself,  and  to  drink  himself  drunk 
with  it  every  day  ?  Hardly  anyone  would  blame  him  for  such  intoxication.” 

3. 

Damis  says  that  they  saw  a  woman  there  who  was  black  from  the 
crown  of  her  head  to  her  breasts,  and  entirely  white  from  her  breasts  to 
her  toes ;  and  that  he  turned  away  from  that  horrid  sight,  but  Apollonius 
extended  his  hand  to  her,  as  if  quite  familiar  with  such  things.  A  woman 
of  that  description  in  India  is  always  sacred  to  Venus;  piebald  girls  being 
consecrated  to  that  goddess  from  birth,  like  an  Apis  among  the  Egyptians. 

4. 

He  says  that  on  leaving  the  river  valley  they  climbed  over  the  range 
of  the  Caucasus  which  extends  toward  the  Erythraean  Sea,  and  that  it  is 
thickly  wooded  with  spice  trees,  and  the  spurs  projecting  into  the  plain 
produce  cinnamon,  growing  like  young  vine-shoots ;  and  that  a  she-goat  is 
used  as  a  scout  in  finding  these  plants,  for  she  is  so  fond  of  cinnamon  that 
if  a  little  is  held  out  toward  her  she  whimpers  for  it  like  a  dog,  and  follows 
after  the  hand  with  outstretched  nose:  and  if  her  keeper  drags  her  away 
she  bleats  as  if  robbed  of  a  lotus.  High  on  the  mountain  cliffs  grow  incense¬ 
bearing  trees,  and  many  spices,  including  pepper-trees,  which  the  apes 
frequent,  never  mistaking  it  for  any  other  tree,  and  I  will  explain  what  use 
is  made  of  this  fact.  The  pepper-tree  resembles  the  agnus  of  the  Greeks  in 
its  clusters  of  berries  and  its  general  appearance,  and  it  grows  in  pre¬ 
cipitous  rocks  inaccessible  to  man,  where  apes  dwell  in  caves  and  nooks  of 
the  cliffs.  The  Indians  prize  these  apes  because  they  harvest  pepper  for 
them,  so  they  defend  them  from  lions  with  dogs  and  weapons.  A  sick  lion 
will  lie  in  wait  for  an  ape  to  use  as  medicine,  its  flesh  being  a  remedy  for 
the  diseases  of  lions ;  or  if  the  lion  is  decrepit  he  needs  one  for  food,  for 
lions  which  are  too  old  to  kill  stags  and  boars  have  to  eat  apes,  and  employ 
their  last-remaining  strength  in  catching  them.  The  Indians  try  to  prevent 
this,  and  take  up  arms  against  the  lions  in  defense  of  the  apes,  as  a  reward 
which  the  apes  have  earned  from  them.  The  native  method  of  procuring 
the  pepper  is  to  gather  the  berries  from  the  few  trees  which  grow  below 
the  cliffs,  wherever  they  can  be  reached,  and  then  to  clear  a  space  about 
each  tree,  on  which  they  fling  the  berries  down  as  if  getting  rid  of  a  useless 
thing  to  which  they  attach  no  value.  Meantime  the  apes  are  watching  these 
proceedings  from  the  inaccessible  cliffs,  and  when  night  comes  they  imitate 
these  actions  of  the  natives  by  plucking  the  berries  from  their  own  pepper- 
trees  in  high  glee,  and  throwing  them  down  on  the  places  cleared  by  the 
men.  Next  day  the  Indians  come  and  take  away  those  piles  of  spices,  which 


66 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


have  been  gathered  without  any  labor  of  their  own,  while  they  were  asleep 
at  their  ease. 

5. 

Damis  says  that  after  crossing  those  mountains  they  saw  a  plain  in¬ 
tersected  by  ditches  filled  with  water,  some  of  which  led  at  a  right  angle 
from  the  Ganges  river,  and  others  crosswise  to  them,  serving  as  boundaries 
of  the  farms,  as  well  as  to  irrigate  the  fields  when  the  ground  was  thirsty. 
The  soil  of  this  plain  is  said  to  be  the  best  in  India,  and  it  constitutes  more¬ 
over  the  largest  province,  being  fifteen  days’  journey  across  to  the  Ganges, 
and  eighteen  from  the  sea  to  the  mountains  of  the  apes,  which  bound  it. 
This  whole  region  is  level,  with  a  black  soil  which  produces  any  crop,  for 
they  saw  in  it  wheat  stalks  standing  like  canes,  beans  three  times  as  large  as 
those  of  Egypt,  and  sesame  and  millet  all  of  wonderful  growth.  He  says 
too  that  those  nuts  grow  there,  of  which  many  are  kept  in  our  temples  as 
curiosities ;  and  vines,  the  grapes  of  which  are  small  indeed,  like  those  of 
the  Lydians  and  Mseonians,  but  yielding  a  pleasant  wine  which  has  a  de¬ 
licious  bouquet,  even  when  first  pressed.  They  saw  there  a  tree  like  a 
laurel,  which  produces  a  pod  like  a  very  large  pomegranate,  containing  a 
pulp  blue  as  hyacinth  blossoms,  which  has  the  sweetest  perfume  of  any¬ 
thing  the  seasons  grow. 

6. 

On  descending  the  mountains  he  says  they  happened  on  a  dragon- 
hunt,  which  should  be  described  here,  for  it  would  be  absurd  that  writers 
on  sporting  subjects  should  tell  us  minutely  all  about  hares,  and  how  they 
are  taken,  and  might  be  taken;  and  that  I  should  omit  the  account  of  a 
rare  and  marvellous  chase,  which  the  man  of  whom  I  am  writing  stopped 
to  watch.  The  entire  circuit  of  India  is  infested  with  immense  dragons ; 
its  mountains  swarm  with  them,  and  its  marshes  as  well,  and  no  little  hill 
is  without  them.  The  marsh-dragons  are  sluggish,  about  thirty  cubits 
long,  and  have  no  standing  crest  on  their  heads,  being  more  like  a  she- 
dragon,  blackish  on  the  back  and  less  scaly  than  the  other  kinds.  Homer 
has  described  them  more  accurately  than  most  poets,  for  he  says  that  the 
dragon  which  dwelt  by  the  fountain  at  Aulis  was  tawny-backed,  whereas 
other  poets  say  that  its  twin,  dwelling  in  the  Nemaean  grove,  was  crested, 
a  thing  which  we  will  not  easily  find  in  marsh-dragons. 

7. 

The  great  dragons  which  live  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  or  in  the 
isolated  hills,  go  down  into  the  plains  to  find  their  prey,  and  are  in  every 
way  superior  to  those  of  the  marshes,  for  they  grow  to  greater  length,  and 
they  flow  along  the  ground  swifter  than  the  swiftest  streams,  so  that  no 


BOOK  THREE 


67 


creature  can  escape  from  them.  They  grow  a  crest,  which  is  only  slightly 
prominent  in  the  younger  ones,  but  increases  with  their  years,  until  it 
stands  high  above  their  heads.  At  that  age  they  become  red,  and  are 
bearded,  with  serrated  backs,  and  they  lift  their  heads  far  from  the 
ground,  and  their  scales  gleam  like  silver.  The  pupils  of  their  eyes  are 
fiery  stones,  which  are  said  to  have  wonderful  virtue  in  many  magic  spells. 
A  dragon  of  the  plains  of  this  sort  is  taken  by  hunters  after  it  has  swallowed 
an  elephant,  which  meal  thus  becomes  fatal  to  both  beasts.  Dragons  are 
sought  for  their  eyes  and  skins  and  teeth,  the  latter  being  very  like  the 
tusks  of  the  largest  wild  boars,  but  more  slender  and  curved,  and  with 
points  as  perfect  as  in  great  fishes. 

8. 

The  mountain-dragons  glitter  as  if  their  scales  were  gold,  and  they 
attain  greater  length  than  those  of  the  plains.  Their  bristling  beards  are 
golden  too,  and  their  eye  sockets  are  more  cavernous  than  in  plains- 
dragons,  and  deeply  set  in  them  smoulder  dreadful  and  pitiless  eyes. 
They  rattle  like  brass  when  they  writhe  about  in  their  caverns,  and  fire 
brighter  than  a  torch  flashes  from  their  flaming  crests.  They  too  prey  on 
elephants,  and  they  are  taken  by  hunters  in  the  following  manner.  Before 
the  entrance  of  the  dragon’s  lair  the  men  hang  up  a  scarlet  cloak,  em¬ 
broidered  in  gold  with  magic  hieroglyphics,  which  induces  drowsiness 
in  the  dragon,  until  its  otherwise  unwinking  eyes  are  closed.  Then  they 
sing  to  it  many  spells  of  mysterious  might  by  which  it  is  worked  upon  to 
thrust  its  head  out  of  the  cavern,  and  laying  it  on  the  hieroglyphics,  it  falls 
asleep ;  whereupon  the  hunters  attack  its  prostrate  form,  and  cut  off  its 
head  with  axes,  and  then  from  the  amputated  head  they  make  booty  of  the 
stones  which  it  carries  in  its  eyes.  Damis  says  that  the  stones  in  the  eyes 
of  mountain-dragons  are  iridescent,  flashing  with  every  color,  and  that 
they  are  endowed  with  the  power  of  conferring  invisibility,  which  is  at¬ 
tributed  to  the  ring  of  Gyges.  It  sometimes  happens  that  a  hunter  is  • 
overcome  by  his  own  spells,  and  the  wakeful  monster  drags  him  into  the 
den,  axe  and  all,  while  the  mountain  fairly  quivers.  Similar  dragons  are 
said  to  inhabit  the  mountains  near  the  Erythraean  Sea,  where  travellers 
say  they  have  heard  their  frightful  hissing,  and  have  seen  them  come 
down  to  the  sea  and  swim  far  from  shore.  It  is  hard  to  ascertain,  and  in¬ 
credible  to  tell,  how  long  these  creatures  live;  and  this  summary  em¬ 
braces  all  I  have  been  able  to  learn  about  them. 

9. 

According  to  Damis  the  great  city  of  Paraca  lies  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountains,  and  many  dragons’  skulls  hang  in  its  central  square,  as  its 


68 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


townsmen  practice  this  method  of  hunting  from  boyhood.  They  are  also 
said  to  understand  the  language  and  communications  of  animals,  from 
eating  dragons’  heart  as  some  say,  and  others  dragons’  liver. 

During  their  march  our  travellers  heard  what  they  thought  was  a  flute 
which  some  shepherd  was  playing  to  collect  his  flock ;  but  the  flock  turned 
out  to  be  white  does,  which  had  their  feeding-place  there,  and  which  those 
Indians  milk,  considering  their  milk  more  nutritious  than  any  other. 

10. 

After  four  days’  journey  from  this  city  through  a  fertile  and  well- 
cultivated  region  Damis  says  that  they  reached  the  tower  of  the  Sages, 
whereupon  the  guide  made  his  camel  kneel  down,  and  leapt  from  it  in 
great  trepidation,  dripping  with  sweat.  Apollonius  recognizing  the 
place  was  amused  at  the  man’s  alarm,  and  said :  ‘‘Although  this  man  has 
reached  port  at  last  after  voyaging  over  a  wide  sea,  he  does  not  seem  to 
like  the  looks  of  the  harbor,  and  fears  what  he  may  find  on  shore.”  As  he 
spoke  he  ordered  his  own  camel  to  kneel  also,  being  quite  expert  in  such 
performances  by  that  time.  The  reason  for  the  guide’s  fear  was  that  he 
had  unwarily  come  closer  to  the  Sages  than  he  ought,  for  the  Indians  hold 
them  in  greater  awe  than  they  do  the  king,  because  the  king  of  that  country 
consults  them  on  everything  he  should  say  or  do,  as  men  seek  responses 
from  oracles ;  and  the  Sages  indicate  to  him  what  is  best  to  be  done,  and 
discourage  or  if  necessary  forbid  whatever  is  undesirable. 

11. 

When  they  were  about  to  seek  lodgings  in  the  nearest  village,  which 
was  less  than  a  stadium  from  the  Sages’  hill,  Damis  says  that  they  saw 
a  lad  running  toward  them,  the  blackest  Indian  they  ever  saw,  with  a  white 
crescent  in  the  space  between  his  eyebrows.  I  understand  that  the  same 
peculiarity  was  afterwards  shown  in  Meno,  the  Ethiopian  protege  of  the 
Sophist  Herodes,  while  he  was  young,  but  as  he  approached  manhood  its 
whiteness  grew  duller,  and  it  disappeared  with  his  boyhood.  Damis  says 
that  this  Indian  carried  a  golden  anchor,  which  Indian  heralds  bear  to 
denote  their  office,  instead  of  a  wand,  because  it  holds  things  firmly. 

12. 

Running  up  to  Apollonius,  the  lad  addressed  him  in  Greek,  which  did 
not  seem  in  itself  very  surprising,  because  everyone  in  that  village  speaks 
Greek :  but  when  he  greeted  him  by  name  it  astonished  the  others,  and 
inspired  Apollonius  with  confidence  of  attaining  the  objects  of  his  journey. 
Looking  at  Damis  he  said:  “We  have  come  to  men  who  really  are  wise, 
for  they  clearly  see  future  events;”  and  at  once  he  asked  the  lad  what 
he  was  to  do,  being  impatient  to  converse  with  them.  The  lad  replied: 


BOOK  THREE 


69 


“These  other  men  are  to  lodg^e  in  this  village,  but  you  are  to  come  with 
me  directly,  for  so  they  order.”  This  “they”  seemed  Pythagorean  to 
Apollonius,  and  he  followed  him  gladly. 

13. 

Damis  says  that  the  hill  on  which  the  Sages  dwell  rises  above  the  plain 
as  high  as  the  Acropolis  at  Athens,  and  that  it  is  defended  in  the  same 
way  by  a  natural  encircling  cliff,  in  which  are  visible  everywhere  the  im¬ 
pressions  of  cloven  hoofs,  and  side  and  front  faces,  and  here  and  there 
what  look  like  the  backs  of  falling  men.  For  when  Bacchus  was  besieging 
the  hill  with  Hercules,  he  ordered  his  satyrs  to  assault  it,  thinking  them 
strong  enough  to  shake  it,  but  they  were  smitten  by  the  thunderbolts  of 
the  sages,  and  were  hurled  in  all  directions,  and  after  their  attack  had  been 
repulsed  their  shapes  remained  imprinted  on  the  rocks.  He  says  that  he 
saw  a  cloud  surrounding  the  hill,  which  permits  the  Sages  dwelling  within 
it  to  be  visible  or  invisible,  as  they  choose;  and  that  he  does  not  know  if 
there  is  more  than  one  path  up  the  hill,  for  the  encircling  mist  kept  him 
from  seeing  whether  the  barrier  of  the  cliff  was  continuous  or  not. 

14. 

Apollonius  himself  says  that  he  ascended  for  the  most  part  on  the 
south  side,  guided  by  the  Indian  lad,  and  that  the  first  notable  thing  he 
saw  was  a  well  about  four  fathoms  deep,  which  was  filled  to  the  top  with 
an  intensely  blue  light,  and  that  when  the  noon-day  sun  stood  over  it  that 
light  was  drawn  upward  by  its  rays  and  was  carried  high  in  air,  where 
it  shone  like  a  brilliant  rainbow.  He  learned  afterward  concerning  this  well 
that  the  earth  under  it  was  sandarac,  and  that  its  water  was  held  sacred 
by  the  Sages,  so  that  no  one  ever  drank  it  or  drew  it,  and  that  oaths  are 
generally  sworn  by  the  well  in  all  India  roundabout.  Near  it  is  a  pit  of  fire, 
which  sends  up  a  lead-colored  flame  giving  out  neither  smoke  nor  smell, 
and  this  pit  never  overflows  but  bubbles  up  just  enough  to  be  always  brim¬ 
ful  of  fire.  Here  the  Indians  are  cleansed  of  involuntary  sins,  wherefore  the 
Sages  name  the  well  and  the  pit  the  “well  of  trial”  and  the  “fire  of  pardon.”  * 
He  says  that  he  also  saw  two  jars  made  of  black  stone,  one  for  rains  and 
one  for  winds;  and  that  if  the  rain-jar  is  uncovered  when  India  is  suffer¬ 
ing  from  drought  it  sends  out  clouds  which  moisten  all  the  land ;  and  if 
there  is  too  much  rain  the  jar  is  stopped  and  holds  it  in.  The  wind-jar 
apparently  has  the  same  property  as  bolus’  leather  bag,  for  by  loosening 
the  stopper  they  let  out  one  wind  at  a  time,  to  breathe  for  its  season,  and 
thence  the  earth  is  invigorated.  He  says  that  he  also  saw  images  of  the 
gods,  which  would  not  be  strange  if  they  had  been  Indian  or  Egyptian 
deities,  but  they  are  the  most  ancient  gods  known  to  the  Greeks,  Athene 


70 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


the  city  guardian,  the  Delian  Apollo,  the  Limnsean  Bacchus,  Bacchus  of 
Amyclse,  and  all  the  gods  of  earliest  times ;  and  he  says  the  Indians  shape 
these  gods  and  worship  them  after  the  Greek  fashion.  The  Sages  claim 
th^t  they  dwell  in  the  middle  of  India,  and  that  the  summit  of  their  hill  is 
the  exact  central  point.  On  it  they  maintain  a  sacred  fire,  which  they  say 
is  extracted  from  the  sun’s  rays,  and  daily  at  noon  they  chant  a  hymn  to 
that  luminary. 

15. 

Apollonius  himself  has  told  what  kind  of  men  the  Sages  are,  and  what 
life  they  lead  on  their  hill,  for  in  one  of  his  addresses  to  the  Egyptian 
Gymnosophists  he  said :  ‘T  have  seen  the  Indian  Brahmins  living  on  the 
earth,  and  at  the  same  time  not  on  it ;  fortified  without  walls,  and  owning 
nothing,  yet  having  the  wealth  of  all  the  world.”  These  statements  are 
somewhat  too  rhetorical  to  be  definite,  but  Damis  tells  that  they  sleep  on 
the  ground,  after  scattering  herbs  on  it  which  each  chooses  for  himself,  and 
that  he  himself  has  seen  them  gliding  about  in  the  air  at  a  height  of  two 
cubits  above  the  ground ;  not  for  the  sake  of  exciting  wonder,  for  those 
men  despise  any  display,  but  because  they  commune  more  fitly  with  the  sun 
when  they  are  separated  from  the  earth.  The  fire  which  they  derive  from 
the  sun’s  rays,  although  it  is  actual  flame,  they  do  not  burn  upon  an  altar, 
nor  keep  alive  on  hearths,  but  it  is  seen  flickering  high  in  air,  like  sun¬ 
light  reflected  from  rippling  water.  During  the  day  they  pray  to  the  Sun 
that  the  seasons  of  the  year  which  he  controls  may  visit  the  earth  in  due 
sequence,  so  that  India  may  prosper;  and  at  night  they  pray  to  that  fire 
derived  from  the  sun,  not  to  be  quenched  by  the  darkness,  but  to  remain 
as  they  have  received  it.  This  is  what  Apollonius  meant  by  the  Brahmins 
being  on  the  earth  and  at  the  same  time  not  on  it ;  and  when  he  said  that 
they  are  defended  without  walls,  he  meant  tlie  airy  shelter  under  which 
they  live ;  for  though  they  seem  to  dwell  under  the  open  sky,  yet  at  will 
they  draw  a  shadow  over  themselves,  or  are  wet  by  the  rain,  or  are  in 
bright  sunshine,  all  as  they  may  wish.  His  saying  that  they  own  nothing 
yet  have  the  wealth  of  the  world  Damis  interprets  to  mean  that  the  same 
fountains  which  burst  from  the  ground  for  Bacchic  revellers,  when  Bac¬ 
chus  simultaneously  convulses  the  earth  and  them,  also  spring  up  for  these 
Sages,  who  both  drink  of  them  themselves,  and  give  to  others  their  water 
to  drink.  Apollonius  rightly  said  that  not  having  they  have,  since  without 
any  preparation  they  supply  themselves  instantly  with  anything  they  wish. 
They  let  their  hair  grow  long,  like  the  ancient  Lacedaemonians  and 
Thurians  and  Tarentines  and  Melians  and  others  among  whom  Spartan 
customs  were  prized ;  and  they  cover  the  head  with  a  white  turban,  and  go 
barefoot  and  wear  a  sleeveless  garment.  The  earth  produces  spontaneously 


BOOK  THREE 


71 


the  wool  for  their  clothing,  which  is  as  white  as  Pamphylian  wool,  but 
softer,  and  an  oil  like  olive  oil  distils  from  it.  They  wear  this  raiment 
in  their  religious  ceremonies,  and  if  any  one  but  those  Sages  tries  to  pull 
that  wool  from  the  ground  the  earth  refuses  to  let  it  go.  By  the  virtues 
of  the  ring  and  the  staff  which  each  of  them  carries  they  have  power  to 
do  all  things,  but  both  of  these  are  treasured  as  mysteries. 

16, 

When  Apollonius  reached  them  the  other  Sages  greeted  him  warmly 
by  clasping  hands,  but  larchas  remained  seated  on  a  lofty  throne  of  black 
bronze  inlaid  with  various  designs  in  gold.  The  chairs  of  the  others  were 
likewise  of  bronze,  but  were  not  so  high  and  were  not  ornamented  with 
designs,  so  that  they  sat  at  a  lower  level  than  larchas,  who  on  seeing 
Apollonius  saluted  him  in  Greek,  and  asked  for  the  letters  from  the  Indian 
king.  Apollonius  expressed  surprise  that  he  knew  of  them  beforehand, 
whereupon  larchas  remarked  that  one  letter  would  be  missing  in  the 
epistle,  referring  to  a  delta  which  the  writer  had  accidentally  left  out,  as 
was  found  to  be  the  case.  After  reading  the  letter  he  said :  “What  is  your 
idea  of  us,  Apollonius  ?”  and  the  Master  replied :  “Could  I  have  shown  it 
better  than  by  making  such  a  journey  to  visit  you  as  no  man  else  of  my 
people  ever  made  ?”  larchas  asked :  “Why  do  you  suppose  that  we  know 
more  than  you  ?”  He  answered :  “b  think  that  all  your  attainments  are 
wiser  and  more  divine ;  but  if  I  shall  have  found  nothing  more  among  you 
than  I  know  already,  I  shall  at  least  have  learned  this,  that  nothing  more 
remains  for  me  to  learn.”  The ‘Indian  said  in  answer:  “Others  usually 
ask  those  who  come  to  them  whence  they  come,  and  why;  but  your  first 
proof  of  our  knowledge  will  be  that  we  are  not  ignorant  concerning  our 
visitor.  Observe  this  then,  to  begin  with.”  Whereupon  he  repeated  the 
pedigree  of  Apollonius  on  his  father’s  side,  and  on  his  mother’s,  and  then 
narrated  all  he  had  done  at  ^gse,  and  how  Damis  had  come  to  him,  and 
what  they  had  done  and  seen  others  doing  on  their  journey,  all  these  inci¬ 
dents  being  recounted  in  a  clear  and  unhesitating  narrative,  as  if  he  had 
been  their  travelling  companion.  Apollonius  was  astounded,  and  asked  him 
how  he  knew,  and  larchas  replied :  “You  yourself  have  already  some  of 
this  wisdom  before  you  come  here,  but  not  yet  all  of  it.”  “Will  you  teach 
me  all  your  wisdom  then?”  asked  Apollonius.  “Freely,”  he  answered,  “for 
it  befits  wisdom  better  to  teach  it,  than  to  grudge  and  to  hide  what  is 
worthy  to  be  known ;  and  besides  I  perceive  that  you  have  an  excellent 
memory,  Apollonius,  and  that  is  the  goddess  whom  we  most  adore.”  “Can 
you  discern  then  what  qualities  I  have?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  larchas 
replied :  “We  perceive  all  the  phases  of  the  mind,  tracing  them  by  in¬ 
numerable  indications.  But  since  it  is  nearly  noon,  and  we  must  make 


72 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


ready  what  will  please  the  gods,  let  us  now  give  our  attention  to  them,  and 
afterward  we  may  converse  on  whatever  subject  you  like.  You  may  be 
present  at  all  our  ceremonies.”  ‘‘By  Zeus !”  said  Apollonius,  “I  would  be 
unfair  to  the  Caucasus  and  the  Indus,  which  I  have  traversed  on  your 
account,  if  I  did  not  try  to  take  my  fill  of  all  your  doings.”  “Take  your 
fill  then,”  said  the  Sage,  “and  now  let  us  go.” 

17. 

Having  come  to  a  fountain,  which  Damis,  who  saw  it  later,  compares 
with  that  of  Dirce  in  Boeotia,  they  laid  aside  their  garments,  and  anointed 
their  heads  with  a  certain  amber-like  preparation,  which  heated  them  so 
that  their  bodies  steamed  and  dripped  with  a  profuse  perspiration,  like 
bathers  in  a  hot-room.  Then  they  plunged  into  the  water,  and  being  thus 
purified  they  marched  in  procession  to  the  temple,  wreathed  and  full  of 
song.  Standing  in  a  circle  like  a  chorus,  with  larchas  as  their  leader,  the 
Sages  lifted  their  staves  and  struck  the  earth  with  them,  which  swelling 
like  a  wave  shot  them  into  the  air  to  the  height  of  two  cubits,  while  mean¬ 
time  they  chanted  a  hymn  like  that  psean  of  Sophocles  which  is  sung  to 
^sculapius  at  Athens.  When  they  descended  again  to  earth  larchas  called 
the  lad  who  bore  the  anchor  and  said:  “See  to  the  companions  of  Apol¬ 
lonius.”  The  lad  went  to  them  far  swifter  than  the  swiftest  bird,  and  re¬ 
turning  reported  :  “I  have  done  so.”  The  Sages  were  resting  in  their 
chairs,  having  performed  most  of  their  sacred  rites,  and  larchas  said  to  the 
lad:  “Bring  out  the  throne  of  Phraotes  for  the  philosopher  Apollonius,  so 
that  he  may  sit  on  it  while  conferring  with  us.” 

18. 

When  he  was  seated  on  it,  the  Sage  said :  “Ask  what  you  choose,  for 
you  have  come  to  men  who  know  everything.”  Apollonius  thereupon 
asked  whether  they  also  knew  themselves,  supposing  that  larchas  like 
the  Greeks  would  think  self-knowledge  difficult;  but  he  replied  with  a 
confidence  unexpected  by  Apollonius :  “We  know  everything,  for  the 
reason  that  we  have  learned  ourselves  first  of  all.  None  of  us  attained 
philosophy  until  he  first  knew  himself.”  Recalling  how  he  had  heard  from 
Phraotes  that  everyone  desirous  of  becoming  a  philosopher  undertook  the 
task  only  after  close  self-examination,  Apollonius  conceded  this  proposi¬ 
tion,  especially  as  he  had  proved  it  in  his  own  case.  His  next  question  was, 
what  they  thought  themselves  to  be,  and  the  Sage  replied  “Gods !”  and  on 
Apollonius  asking  why,  he  said :  “Because  we  are  good  men !”  This 
answer  seemed  to  Apollonius  so  full  of  wisdom  that  he  afterward  said  the 
same  thing  in  his  defense  before  Domitian. 


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73 


19. 

Continuing  his  questions,  he  asked :  “What  do  you  think  of  the  soul  ?” 
larchas  replied :  “What  Pythagoras  has  taught  you,  and  we  taught  the 
Egyptians.”  Then  Apollonius  inquired :  “Pythagoras  declared  himself 
to  have  been  Euphorbus.  Do  you  mean  that  you  too,  before  you  entered 
your  present  body,  were  a  Trojan,  or  a  Greek,  or  some  one  else?”  The 
Sage  replied:  “Troy  was  ruined  by  those  Greeks  who  sailed  thither,  but 
the  fables  which  are  told  of  that  war  have  been  the  ruin  of  you  modern 
Greeks,  for  you  reckon  as  heroes  only  those  who  fought  at  Troy,  and  you 
ignore  a  greater  number  of  heroes,  and  more  godlike  ones,  whom  your 
own  land,  and  India,  and  Egypt  have  given  birth  to.  But  since  you  have 
asked  me  concerning  a  previous  existence,  tell  me  which  of  those  who 
fought  against  Troy,  and  of  those  who  took  her  side,  you  rate  the  highest.” 
Apollonius  replied :  “Achilles,  the  son  of  Peleus  and  Thetis,  in  my  opinion. 
Pie  is  extolled  by  Homer  as  the  most  beautiful  and  mighty  of  all  the 
Greeks,  and  he  sings  of  his  great  deeds.  He  lauds  such  men  as  Ajax  and 
Nireus  too,  but  he  represents  them  as  inferior  to  Achilles  in  beauty  and  in 
valor.”  larchas  said :  “Liken  my  ancestor  to  him,  Apollonius,  or  rather 
my  former  incarnation,  for  in  that  sense  Pythagoras  meant  that  he  him¬ 
self  had  been  Euphorbus.” 

20. 

“When  the  people  who  are  now  the  Ethiopians  formerly  inhabited 
this  region,”  he  went  on,  “they  were  an  Indian  race,  and  Ethiopia  did  not 
yet  exist ;  but  Egypt  extended  beyond  Meroe  and  the  Cataracts  as  far  as  the 
sources  of  the  Nile  in  that  direction,  and  to  the  mouths  of  the  river  in 
the  other.  While  the  Ethiopians  dwelt  here  as  the  subjects  of  King  Ganges 
the  earth  supported  them  abundantly,  and  the  gods  had  care  of  them;  but 
when  they  had  murdered  that  king  they  were  regarded  by  the  other 
Indians  as  accursed,  and  the  earth  refused  theim  sustenance,  rotted  the 
seed  they  sowed  before  it  headed  out,  made  their  women’s  offspring 
abortions,  gave  little  feed  to  their  flocks,  and  wherever  they  built  a  city 
the  ground  gave  way  and  overthrew  it.  Moreover  the  ghost  of  Ganges 
haunted  them  wherever  they  went,  horrifying  the  people,  and  never  leav¬ 
ing  them  in  peace,  until  they  sacrificed  to  the  Earth  those  assassins  whose 
hands  had  shed  his  blood.  That  Ganges  was  ten  cubits  tall,  and  beautiful 
as  no  mortal  had  ever  been.  He  was  the  son  of  the  river  Ganges,  and 
when  his  father  was  flooding  India  he  himself  made  the  channel  for  him 
to  the  Erythraean  Sea,  transforming  him  into  the  benefactor  of  the  land ; 
wherefore  the  land  brought  forth  everything  abundantly  while  he  lived, 
and  avenged  him  dead.  Now  since  Homer  brings  Achilles  to  Troy  for 
the  sake  of  Helen,  and  tells  how  he  took  twelve  cities  by  sea  and  eleven 


74 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


by  land,  and  how  he  flamed  with  wrath  because  his  concubine  was  taken 
from  him  by  the  king,  and  how  at  that  time  he  showed  a  merciless  and 
savage  disposition,  let  us  see  how  Ganges  compares  with  him  in  those 
respects.  Ganges  is  famous  as  the  founder  of  sixty  cities,  which  are  the 
most  powerful  of  all  in  this  land.  No  one  will  assert  that  it  is  more 
glorious  to  overthrow  cities  than  to  found  them.  Once  when  the  Scythians 
from  beyond  the  Caucasus  invaded  this  country  he  drove  them  back.  To 
show  himself  a  valiant  hero  in  freeing  his  native  land  is  far  nobler  than 
to  reduce  a  city  to  slavery,  and  that  too  for  the  sake  of  a  woman  who  very 
probably  was  not  even  carried  off  against  her  will.  Having  made  a  treaty 
of  alliance  with  the  king  of  that  region  which  Phraotes  now  rules,  he  would 
not  cancel  the  treaty,  notwithstanding  that  king  had  most  wickedly  and 
shamelessly  abducted  his  wife ;  for  he  said  that  he  had  taken  such  a  solemn 
oath,  that  in  spite  of  his  private  wrongs  he  would  do  the  king  no  harm.” 

21. 

'T  might  tell  you  much  more  of  this  hero,  if  I  did  not  shrink  from 
sounding  my  own  praises,  for  I  myself  am  that  very  man.  I  gave  proof  of 
this  at  four  years  of  age;  for  Ganges  had  secretly  buried  seven  diamond 
swords  in  the  ground,  so  that  no  calamity  should  invade  the  land,  and  the 
gods  commanded  sacrifices  to  be  offered  at  the  spot  where  the  swords  had 
been  buried,  but  they  did  not  reveal  where  it  was ;  and  I,  a  mere  child, 
guided  the  interpreters  of  the  divine  message  to  the  hiding  place,  identi¬ 
fying  the  spot  exactly,  and  told  them  to  dig,  and  that  the  swords  had  been 
deposited  there. 

22. 

“Do  not  wonder  at  the  coincidence,  that  I  after  being  once  an  Indian 
should  be  reincarnated  as  an  Indian  again.  Now  this  lad”  (pointing  to  a 
youth  about  twenty  years  old)  “above  all  men  is  a  born  philosopher, 
vigorous  as  you  see  and  in  excellent  bodily  condition,  and  he  bears 
patiently  fire  or  wounds,  and  yet  for  all  that  he  detests  philosophy.” 
“What  is  wrong  with  him  then,  larchas?”  asked  Apollonius,  “for  it  is 
hard  to  believe  that  one  so  well  fitted  for  it  by  nature  should  not  delight 
in  philosophy,  nor  be  eager  to  learn,  and  yet  be  one  of  your  companions.” 
“He  is  not  here  of  his  own  choice,”  said  larchas ;  “he  is  an  unwilling 
captive,  and  is  kept  in  confinement  like  a  caged  lion,  and  he  glares  at  us 
with  savage  eyes  even  when  we  are  soothing  and  petting  him.  That  youth 
was  formerly  the  Palamedes  who  fought  at  Troy,  and  who  was  so  hateful 
to  Ulysses  and  to  Homer  that  Ulysses  had  him  waylaid  and  stoned  to 
death,  and  Homer  did  not  think  him  a  worthy  subject  for  his  poem.  Now 
because  the  knowledge  which  he  then  had  did  not  save  him,  and  he  got 
no  praise  from  Homer,  who  has  conferred  fame  on  many  insignificant 


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75 


individuals,  and  because  he  was  slain  by  Ulysses  without  any  provocation, 
he  detests  philosophy  and  mourns  his  lot.  He  really  is  Palamedes  yet,  and 
is  even  able  to  write,  though  he  has  never  learned  his  letters.” 

23. 

While  they  were  conversing  thus  a  messenger  came  to  larchas  to  say 
that  the  king  would  arrive  early  in  the  evening  to  consult  him  on  his 
affairs.  larchas  said :  “Let  him  come,  for  he  will  go  away  benefited  by 
meeting  a  notable  Greek.”  Thereupon  he  resumed  the  conversation,  and 
asked  Apollonius :  “Are  you  willing  to  tell  us  of  your  own  previous 
existence,  and  who  you  then  were?”  Apollonius  answered:  “I  rarely 
think  of  that,  because  it  did  me  little  honor.”  larchas  went  on :  “Do  you 
consider  it  dishonorable  then  to  have  been  the  steersman  of  an  Eg}^ptian 
vessel?  For  I  see  that  is  what  you  were.”  “You  are  right,  larchas,”  said 
Apollonius,  “for  that  is  exactly  what  1  was.  I  consider  that  calling  to  be 
not  merely  dishonorable  but  outcast.  It  should  be  thought  as  respectable 
as  holding  office,  or  commanding  an  army,  and  yet  it  is  looked  down  upon 
because  of  the  bad  name  of  sea-faring  men;  so  that  in  that  day  nobody 
thought  that  even  my  best  conduct  entitled  me  to  any  credit.”  “What 
other  creditable  thing  would  you  say  you  did,”  asked  larchas,  “beyond  the 
way  in  which  you  managed  your  ship,  in  the  gale  which  blew  her  off  her 
course  in  sailing  around  Malea  and  Sunium,  when  you  skilfully  antici¬ 
pated  the  changes  of  the  wind  from  ahead  or  astern,  and  steered  the 
vessel  safely  past  the  sunken  reefs  in  the  Eubcean  gulf,  where  many  spikes 
of  rock  stand  out?” 

24. 

Apollonius  answered :  “Since  you  require  me  to  speak  of  steers- 
manship,  I  will  tell  you  one  thing  I  think  I  did  well  in  those  days.  At  one 
time  pirates  were  infesting  the  Phoenician  coast,  and  lurked  in  cities  to 
spy  out  each  vessel’s  cargo.  Seeing  that  my  ship  was  full-laden  with  a 
valuable  freight  the  pirates’  emissaries  asked  me  privately  what  share  I 
had  in  the  freight-money,  and  I  told  them  a  thousand  drachmas,  as  we 
were  four  steersmen  on  board.  Then  they  asked  me,  ‘do  you  own  a 
house?’  and  I  answered,  ‘a  wretched  cabin  on  Pharos  island,  where 
Proteus  used  to  live.’  Then  they  asked :  ‘would  you  not  prefer  solid 
ground  to  the  sea,  and  a  house  instead  of  a  cabin,  and  ten  times  your 
share  of  the  freight  money,  with  a  release  from  the  countless  dangers 
which  beset  steersmen  on  stormy  waves  ?’  I  answered  that  I  certainly 
would  like  that,  but  that  I  could  not  bcj  tempted  to  piracy,  since  I  had 
acquired  much  skill  and  was  rated  as  entitled  to  wreaths  for  my  steers- 
manship.  When  they  persisted  and  offered  me  a  purse  of  ten  thousand 
drachmas  to  carry  out  their  plan,  I  asked  them  to  let  me  know  what 


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APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


the  plan  was,  as  if  I  was  ready  to  fall  in  with  it.  They  said  then  that  they 
had  been  sent  by  pirates  to  induce  me  not  to  thwart  their  seizure  of  the 
vessel,  and  not  tq  sail  directly  to  our  destination  when  I  cast  off  from 
there,  but  to  touch  at  a  certain  cape  behind  which  the  pirate  ships  would 
be  in  hiding ;  and  they  offered  to  swear  that  they  not  only  would  not  kill 
me,  but  would  spare  the  lives  of  any  on  board  for  whom  I  might  intercede. 
I  thought  if  not  at  all  safe  to  seem  to  oppose  them,  for  fear  that  they 
would  change  their  plan,  and  attack  the  vessel  as  soon  as  she  put  to  sea,  in 
which  event  we  would  be  sunk  somewhere  in  deep  water;  so  I  signified 
my  consent  to  their  scheme,  and  made  them  swear  to  do  as  they  had 
promised.  After  the  oaths  had  been  given,  for  we  were  conferring  in  a 
temple,  I  said:  ‘Go  off  at  once  to  notify  the  pirate  ships,  for  we  are  to 
sail  tonight;’  and  I  strengthened  their  confidence  in  me  by  throwing  in  a 
reference  to  the  bribe,  asking  them  to  count  out  full-weight  coins  to  me, 
but  not  before  they  had  taken  the  vessel.  So  they  went  away,  but  I  steered 
wide  of  the  cape  and  took  my  vessel  far  out  to  sea.”  “Do  you  think  that 
conduct  honest?”  asked  larchas.  “I  certainly  do,  and  humane  besides,” 
answered  Apollonius,  “for  in  my  opinion  refusing  to  betray  the  lives  of 
men,  and  to  rob  my  owners  of  their  goods,  and  to  be  corrupted  by  a  bribe, 
includes  many  virtues,  in  spite  of  my  being  a  sailor.” 

25. 

Then  the  Sage  said  smiling:  “You  seem  to  believe  that  uprightness 
consists  merely  in  abstaining  from  wrong-doing ;  and  so  I  think  do  all  the 
Greeks.  For,  as  I  have  heard  from  some  Egyptians  who  came  here  once, 
the  prefects  who  are  sent  to  you  from  Rome  poise  over  your  heads  an  axe 
ready  to  fall  before  they  know  whether  those  whom  they  are  to  rule  deserve 
punishment  or  not ;  but  you  call  them  upright  so  long  as  they  do  not 
actually  sell  their  decisions.  I  understand  that  slave  dealers  have  similar 
standards,  and  that  if  they  come  to  you  bringing  Carian  slaves,  and  under¬ 
take  to  describe  their  dispositions,  they  think  it  high  commendation  to  say 
that  they  do  not  steal.  That  is  your  way  of  classifying  the  magistrates 
whom  you  say  you  obey ;  and  you  adorn  them  with  the  highest  testimonials, 
in  your  opinion,  when  you  give  the  same  praise  to  them  as  to  those  slaves. 
Neither  do  your  loftiest  poets  permit  you  to  be  just  and  honorable,  even  if 
you  should  wish  to  be,  for  Minos,  the  most  brutal  of  men,  who  enslaved 
every  coast  and  island  with  his  ships,  these  poets  arm  with  the  rod  of  jus¬ 
tice,  and  they  set  him  up  as  a  judge  of  souls  in  Hades ;  while  the  same  poets 
deprive  Tantalus  of  food  and  drink,  because  he  was  a  kindly  man,  and 
shared  with  his  friends  the  immortality  granted  him  by  the  gods.  Some  of 
them  even  insult  that  noblest  and  most  godlike  of  men  by  suspending  rocks 
above  his  head,  though  it  would  be  more  suitable,  as  I  think,  if  they  sur- 


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77 


rounded  him  with  a  lake  of  that  nectar  which  he  so  generously  and  benevo¬ 
lently  gave  away.”  On  saying  this  he  pointed  to  a  statue  about  four  cubits 
high  standing  at  his  left  hand,  inscribed  “Tantalus,”  and  representing  a 
man  of  fifty  years  dressed  in  Argolic  costume,  except  that  he  threw  his 
cloak  back  in  Thessalian  fashion.  He  was  holding  out  a  goblet  large 
enough  to  satisfy  one  man’s  thirst,  in  which  foamed  brimful  a  draught  of 
unmingled  fluid.  I  will  soon  tell  how  the  Sages  esteem  this  fluid,  and  on 
what  occasions  they  drink  it.  It  surely  must  be  believed  that  although  the 
poets  blame  Tantalus  for  not  holding  his  tongue,  and  for  giving  nectar  to 
mortals,  the  gods  do  not  do  so,  for  if  the  gods  disliked  him  he  never  would 
have  been  considered  a  good  man  by  those  Indian  Sages,  who  of  all  men 
are  the  dearest  to  the  gods,  and  do  nothing  without  divine  approval. 

26. 

An  uproar  arose  in  the  village  while  they  were  speaking  thus,  for  the 
king  had  arrived  there,  escorted  with  more  than  Median  splendor,  and 
swelling  with  importance.  Whereupon  larchas  indignantly  remarked: 
“If  it  had  been  Phraotes  coming  here,  you  would  have  noticed  a  stillness 
as  profound  as  in  the  Mysteries.”  Apollonius  inferred  from  this  that  the 
king  was  excelled  by  Phraotes,  not  in  small  degree  but  by  the  whole 
stretch  of  his  philosophy.  Seeing  that  the  Sages  were  unconcerned,  and 
were  making  none  of  the  preparations  which  seemed  requisite  for  the 
king’s  reception  that  afternoon,  he  asked :  “Where  will  the  king  lodge  ?” 
They  replied  “here,  for  we  are  to  converse  upon  the  subjects  he  comes 
about  tonight,  which  is  a  more  suitable  time  for  taking  counsel.”  “Then 
will  not  a  table  be  made  ready  against  his  arrival?”  asked  Apollonius. 
“Directly,”  they  answered,  “and  it  will  be  lavishly  set  with  everything  to 
be  found  in  the  region.”  “Do  you  then  live  lavishly?”  asked  Apollonius. 
They  replied:  “We  ourselves  live  meagrely,  for  we  are  content  with  little, 
though  we  might  have  more ;  but  it  is  necessary  to  offer  the  king  a  great 
deal,  for  such  is  his  taste.  He  will  eat  no  flesh  here  however,  for  that  is 
not  permitted  in  this  place,  but  he  will  have  any  sweetmeats  and  vegetables 
and  fruits  which  India  produces  at  this  season,  or  which  next  year’s  seasons 
will  offer.  But  here  he  comes.” 

27. 

The  king  came  in  glittering  with  gold  and  jewels,  and  accompanied 
by  his  brother  and  his  son.  Apollonius  was  about  to  rise  at  his  coming, 
but  larchas  held  him  down  in  his  chair,  saying  that  was  not  their  custom. 
Damis  says  that  he  himself  stayed  in  the  village  that  day  and  was  not 
present  on  the  occasion,  but  that  he  heard  from  Apollonius  the  account 
which  he  reports  in  his  notes.  He  says  that  the  Sages  kept  their  seats,  and 
that  the  king  approached  them  with  outstretched  hand  like  one  begging  a 


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APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


favor,  and  that  they  nodded  as  if  granting  his  prayer,  whereupon  he 
manifested  excessive  joy  over  this  intimation,  as  if  he  had  come  to  the 
oracle  of  God ;  and  that  no  more  attention  was  paid  to  the  king’s  brother 
or  to  his  son,  a  very  handsome  youth,  than  if  they  had  been  the  slaves  of 
the  attendants.  Then  larchas  rose,  and  raising  his  voice  invited  the  king 
to  take  refreshments,  and  on  his  gratefully  accepting  the  invitation  four 
Pythian  tripods  glided  in  of  their  own  accord,  like  the  moving  tripods 
which  Homer  describes,  afid  behind  them  came  cup-bearers  of  dark  bronze 
resembling  the  figures  of  Ganymede  or  of  Pelops  among  the  Greeks. 
Meantime  the  earth  spread  under  the  guests  herbage  softer  than  couches, 
and  there  appeared  before  them  sweetmeats  and  loaves  and  vegetables, 
and  every  fruit  which  the  season  furnished,  all  in  due  order  and  more 
temptingly  served  than  if  cooks  had  prepared  them.  Two  of  the  tripods 
flowed  with  wine,  another  jetted  hot  water,  and  the  fourth  cold  water. 
Among  the  Greeks  the  rubies  brought  from  India  are  so  small  that  they 
are  set  in  rings  or  strung  in  necklaces,  but  among  the  Indians  goblets  and 
wine-coolers  are  carved  from  them,  and  vases  large  enough  to  satisfy  four 
thirsty  men  in  summer.  Damis  says  that  the  bronze  cup-bearers  mixed 
wine  and  water  in  due  proportion,  and  carried  the  goblets  about  as  at  a 
wine  party,  and  that  the  guests  reclined  as  at  a  banquet.  The  king  did  not 
take  the  head  of  the  table,  which  is  the  place  of  honor  among  Romans  and 
*  Greeks,  but  each  one  reclined  wherever  he  happened  to  be. 

28. 

As  the  wine  went  round  larchas  said :  “O  King,  I  invite  you  to  drink 
to  the  health  of  this  noble  Greek,”  pointing  to  Apollonius,  who  lay  near 
him,  and  intimating  by  his  gesture  that  he  was  high-minded  and  godlike. 
The  king  said :  ‘T  have  heard  that  he  and  those  companions  of  his  in  the 
village  are  on  intimate  terms  with  Phraotes.”  larchas  said :  “What  you 
have  heard  is  true  and  correct,  for  Phraotes  is  entertaining  him  here 
too  as  his  guest.”  “On  what  business  is  he  here?”  asked  the  king.  “The 
same  business  which  Phraotes  himself  transacts  here,”  replied  larchas. 
The  king  rejoined :  “that  is  equivalent  to  saying  that  your  guest  is  worth¬ 
less,  if  he  employs  himself  in  the  way  which  prevents  Phraotes  himself 
from  being  equal  to  his  station.”  Then  larchas  said :  “Think  more 
reasonably  of  philosophy  and  of  Phraotes,  O  King.  During  your  boy¬ 
hood  your  immaturity  gave  you  some  excuse,  but  now  that  you  have 
grown  to  be  a  man,  avoid  hasty  and  foolish  criticisms.”  Then  Apollonius 
said,  while  larchas  interpreted  for  him :  “What  have  you  gained  by 
despising  philosophy,  O  King?”  The  king  answered:  “Complete  man¬ 
hood  for  myself,  and  to  be  one  and  the  same  with  the  Sun !”  Thinking  to 
take  down  his  conceit,  Apollonius  said :  “If  you  studied  philosophy  you 


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would  not  think  so.”  “But  since  you  are  a  philosopher,  my  good  sir,”  said 
the  king,  “what  opinion  have  you  of  yourself?”  “To  the  extent  that  I  am 
a  philosopher  I  am  a  good  man,”  replied  Apollonius.  Then  said  the  king, 
lifting  his  hand  toward  the  sky:  “By  the  Sun!  You  have  come  here  full 
of  Phraotes!”  Turning  that  to  suit  his  purpose  Apollonius  replied:  “I 
have  not  made  my  journey  in  vain,  if  I  am  full  of  Phraotes ;  but  if  you 
should  meet  him  now  you  would  say  that  he  is  quite  full  of  me.  Indeed 
he  wished  to  write  to  you  a  letter  of  introduction  for  me,  but  when  he  said 
that  you  were  a  good  man  I  asked  him  to  save  himself  the  trouble  of  writ¬ 
ing  it,  especially  as  no  one  at  all  had  written  to  introduce  me  to  him.” 

29. 

At  this  the  king  abandoned  his  insolent  manner,  for  on  hearing  that 
he  had  been  complimented  by  Phraotes  he  sunk  his  prejudices,  and  said 
in  a  subdued  tone :  “You  are  welcome,  best  of  guests :”  and  Apollonius 
answered :  “Hail  to  you  too,  O  King,  for  now  you  seem  to  have  come  at 
last.”  “Who  has  induced  you  to  come  to  us  ?”  asked  the  king.  “These  wise 
and  divine  men,”  was  the  reply.  “But  what  do  they  say  about  me  among 
the  Greeks,  O  guest?”  asked  the  king.  “As  much  as  is  said  here  about  the 
Greeks,”  said  Apollonius.  The  king  said :  “But  I  think  nothing  worth 
mentioning  is  done  among  the  Greeks.”  “I  will  report  that,”  said  Apol¬ 
lonius,  “and  they  will  crown  you  forthwith  at  the  Olympic  games.” 

30. 

Then  leaning  toward  larchas  he  said :  “Let  him  go  on  drinking 
his  fill.  But  tell  me,  why  do  you  treat  those  with  him,  his  brother  as  you 
say  he  is,  and  his  son,  as  unworthy  of  eating  with  the  rest  of  the  company, 
or  of  any  other  attention  ?”  larchas  answered :  “Because  they  expect  to 
reign  some  day,  so  they  must  be  taught  by  neglect  not  to  neglect  others.” 
Seeing  that  there  were  eighteen  Sages,  Apollonius  again  asked  larchas  what 
that  number  signified,  seeing  it  was  not  the  square  of  any  number,  nor  one 
of  those  numbers  which  are  held  in  certain  dignity  and  honor,  such  as 
ten  or  twelve  or  sixteen  and  the  like.  The  Sage  said  in  reply:  “We  are 
neither  slaves  to  a  number,  nor  is  the  number  to  us ;  but  we  Sages  are 
counted  according  to  our  wisdom  and  virtue,  and  are  more  numerous  at 
one  time  and  fewer  at  another.  I  am  told  that  my  grandfather  in  his  day 
was  chosen  to  be  one  of  seventy-seven  Sages,  of  whom  he  was  the  youngest 
of  all ;  and  that  when  he  had  reached  his  hundred  and  thirtieth  year  he 
was  the  only  one  left  here,  because  none  of  his  colleagues  had  survived, 
and  no  other  qualified  and  philosophic  mind  existed  in  India.  When  the 
Egyptians  congratulated  him  on  being  one  of  the  most  fortunate  of  men, 
because  he  had  occupied  this  throne  alone  for  four  years,  he  begged  them 
to  give  over  reproaching  the  Indians  for  the  scarcity  of  their  philosophers. 


80 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


It  is  true,  Apollonius,  that  we  have  heard  through  the  Egyptians  how  by 
the  rules  of  the  Elean  and  the  Olympic  games  the  judges  presiding  over 
them  are  invariably  ten  in  number,  but  we  do  not  approve  of  the  method 
which  leaves  their  selection  to  blind  chance,  for  it  might  happen  that  the 
worst  candidate  would  be  elected.  But  even  if  they  should  choose  them 
by  ballot  among  the  best-qualified,  would  they  not  still  be  wrong?  Quite 
as  much  so,  for  if  the  limit  of  ten  cannot  be  altered,  either  they  will  fail 
to  confer  due  honor  on  some,  when  there  are  too  many  qualified  candidates ; 
or  on  the  other  hand  if  they  are  compelled  to  elect  unsuitable  men  for  any 
of  the  ten  places  it  will  lower  the  dignity  of  them  all.  The  Eleans  would 
be  wiser  if  they  varied  the  number  of  their  judges  as  occasion  arose,  but 
never  varied  their  excellence.’’ 

31. 

The  king  had  been  persistently  endeavoring  to  interrupt  this  con¬ 
versation  by  constantly  interjecting  some  foolish  and  ignorant  remark.  At 
last  he  asked  them  what  they  were  talking  about  and  Apollonius  replied : 
‘‘We  are  discussing  weighty  matters  which  are  held  in  high  honor  among 
the  Greeks ;  but  you  would  think  them  of  small  importance,  for  you  say 
that  you  have  no  regard  for  anything  Greek.”  “It  is  true  that  I  have  no 
regard  for  them,”  said  the  king,  “but  for  all  that  I  would  like  to  under¬ 
stand  what  you  are  saying,  for  I  think  you  are  speaking  of  the  Athenians, 
those  slaves  of  Xerxes.”  Then  said  Apollonius :  “We  are  in  fact  speak¬ 
ing  of  other  subjects;  but  since  you  have  thrown  out  a  reference  to  the 
Athenians,  which  is  out-of-place  and  untrue,  I  would  like  you  to  tell  me 
this.  Have  you  slaves,  O  King?”  “Twenty  thousand  of  them,”  said  the 
king,  “and  I  never  bought  one  of  them.  They  were  all  raised  on  my 
estates.”  Again  Apollonius  asked,  through  larchas  as  an  interpreter, 
whether  he  fled  from  his  slaves,  or  they  from  him.  The  king  replied 
insultingly :  “That  question  is  what  one  might  expect  from  a  slave,  but 
yet  I  answer  that  a  runaway  is  a  slave,  and  a  bad  one  at  that,  but  a  master 
never  runs  from  one  whom  he  has  the  power  to  torture  and  scourge.” 
Apollonius  went  on :  “Then  Xerxes,  O  King,  by  your  definition  was  the 
slave  of  the  Athenians,  and  being  a  bad  slave  he  ran  away  from  them; 
for  when  he  had  been  defeated  by  them  in  a  naval  battle  in  the  straits, 
and  feared  that  the  boat-bridge  across  the  Hellespont  would  not  be  safe, 
he  fled  from  them  in  a  single  ship.”  “And  yet,”  said  the  king,  “he  had 
burned  Athens  with  his  own  hands.”  To  which  Apollonius  rejoined :  “But 
he  paid  such  a  penalty  for  that  deed  as  no  one  else  ever  did,  for  he  fled 
before  that  very  people  whom  he  thought  he  had  destroyed.  When  I  think 
of  his  expectations  at  the  outset  of  the  war,  I  see  that  he  might  well  have 
appeared  to  some  then  as  a  kind  of  Zeus ;  but  as  a  fugitive  at  its  close  he 


BOOK  THREE 


81 


seems  to  me  the  wretchedest  of  men.  If  he  had  fallen  at  the  hands  of  the 
Greeks,  who  would  have  been  more  highly  honored  than  he?  Or  for 
whom  would  the  Greeks  have  built  a  grander  mausoleum?  And  think  of 
the  games  and  musical  contests  which  would  have  been  instituted  in 
memory  of  him!  If  the  Greeks  exalted  to  divine  honors  Melicertas  or 
Palaemon,  who  died  before  reaching  manhood,  or  Pelops,  that  foreigner 
from  Lydia,  who  enslaved  Arcadia  and  Argolis  and  the  Isthmus,  what 
distinction  would  have  been  withheld  from  the  dead  Xerxes  by  warriors 
eagerly  appreciating  a  valiant  spirit,  and  deeming  it  an  honor  to  them¬ 
selves  to  honor  those  whom  they  had  defeated.” 

32. 

When  Apollonius  said  that,  the  king  could  not  restrain  his  tears, 
and  replied:  “O  dearest  of  men,  what  heroes  do  you  show  the  Greeks  to 
be!”  Apollonius  asked:  ‘‘Why  then  are  you  so  prejudiced  against  them?” 
and  the  king  answered :  “Those  who  come  here  from,  Egypt  slander  the 
Greeks,  boasting  that  they  themselves  are  holy  and  wise,  and  that  they 
originated  whatever  rites  and  mysteries  the  Greeks  celebrate,  and  assert¬ 
ing  that  there  is  nothing  sound  in  the  Greeks,  who  are  an  arrogant  and 
promiscuous  and  utterly  lawless  rabble,  credulous  of  myths  and  portents, 
and  beggars  as  well,  only  they  do  not  pride  themselves  on  their  poverty 
as  honorable,  but  use  it  as  an  excuse  for  stealing.  However,  I  know  better 
now  from  you,  and  learning  how  just  and  how  devoted  to  honor  they  are, 
I  am  a  friend  of  the  Greeks  henceforth,  and  cannot  help  applauding  them 
and  giving  them  my  best  wishes,  but  I  have  loH  all  faith  in  Egyptians.” 
Then  larchas  said :  “I  knew  very  well  that  you  were  misinformed  by 
those  Egyptians,  O  King,  but  I  did  not  correct  your  impressions  of  the 
Greeks,  for  I  waited  until  you  should  meet  some  such  man  as  this  to 
set  you  right.  Now  that  you  have  been  converted  by  this  philosopher,  let 
us  drink  from  the  cup  of  Tantalus,  and  then  take  a  nap,  so  that  we  may 
do  tonight  what  we  have  to  do.  Whenever  you  come  here  again  I  will 
gratify  you  to  your  heart’s  content  with  sayings  of  the  Greeks,  in  which 
they  abound  above  all  men.”  Thereupon,  taking  precedence  of  his 
guests,  he  was  the  first  to  bend  his  head  to  the  goblet  held  out  by  the 
statue  of  Tantalus,  which  furnished  drink  abundantly  to  them  all ;  for  the 
fluid  welled  up  in  it  as  in  a  perennial  spring.  Apollonius  drank  of  it  in  his 
turn,  for  that  drinking  was  ordained  by  the  Sages  in  token  of  friendship, 
and  they  use  Tantalus  as  the  cup-bearer  because  of  all  men  he  seems  to 
have  given  the  greatest  proofs  of  friendship. 

33. 

When  all  had  shared  that  draught,  the  earth  received  them  on  couches 
which  she  spread  under  them ;  but  rising  at  midnight  they  first  chanted 


82 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


hymns  to  that  radiance  of  the  Sun,  while  they  floated  in  the  air  as  they 
had  done  at  noon,  and  then  they  discussed  with  the  king  what  he  wished 
to  ask.  Damis  says  that  Apollonius  was  not  present  at  that  conference, 
which  he  supposes  related  to  some  state  secrets.  After  the  sacred  rites  had 
been  again  performed  at  sunrise  the  king  came  to  Apollonius  and  invited 
him  to  the  palace  to  be  his  guest,  offering  to  send  him  back  to  the  Greeks 
so  loaded  with  favors  that  they  would  envy  him.  Apollonius  thanked  him 
and  replied  that  he  did  not  bestow  his  company  upon  a  man  who  had 
nothing  in  common  with  him,  and  that  moreover  he  had  already  been  too 
long  away  from  home  and  the  friends  he  had  left  there  would  feel 
neglected.  When  the  king  said  fawningly  that  he  begged  him  to  come, 
and  persisted  in  importuning  him,  Apollonius  said :  “When  a  king  speaks 
more  humbly  than  he  should,  he  has  some  hidden  purpose  in  what  he 
asks.”  Then  larchas  coming  up  said:  “You  are  offending  this  holy 
dwelling,  O  King,  by  trying  to  carry  away  from  it  any  man  against  his 
will,  and  especially  this  prophet,  who  foresees  that  association  with  you 
would  not  be  to  his  advantage  and  perhaps  would  not  bring  any  gain  to 
you  either.” 

34. 

The  king  thereupon  withdrew  to  the  village,  as  the  Sages’  rules  did 
not  permit  him  to  remain  with  them  longer  than  one  day,  and  larchas  said 
to  his  messenger :  “We  will  admit  Damis,  too,  to  our  mysteries.  Bring 
him  therefore,  and  make  arrangements  for  the  others  in  the  village.” 
When  Damis  arrived  they  were  seated  as  usual  and  were  allowing  Apol¬ 
lonius  to  question  them.  He  asked  of  what  substance  they  thought  the 
universe  is  composed,  and  they  replied :  “Of  the  elements.”  “Of  four 
then?”  he  asked,  and  larchas  said:  “Not  four,  but  five.”  “What  is  the 
fifth  element,  then,  besides  water,  earth,  air,  and  fire?”  asked  Apollonius. 
“The  ether,”  answered  larchas,  “in  which  it  must  be  thought  that  the  gods 
have  their  origin,  for  all  air-breathers  are  mortal,  but  beings  who  breathe 
the  ether  are  immortal  and  divine.”  Apollonius  then  asked  which  element 
existed  first,  and  larchas  said :  “They  all  began  simultaneously,  for  no 
living  thing  is  born  piecemeal.”  “Do  you  then  think  the  universe  to  be  a 
living  thing?”  asked  Apollonius;  and  larchas  replied:  “Yes,  if  you  rightly 
understand  it,  for  it  gives  birth  to  all  living  things.”  “Should  we  call  it 
female,  or  both  male  and  female  ?”  asked  Apollonius.  “It  is  of  both  sexes,” 
said  larchas,  “for  it  is  self-impregnated,  and  acts  as  both  father  and  mother 
in  creating  life,  and  its  desire  for  itself  exceeds  all  other  passion  of  sepa¬ 
rate  beings  for  each  other,  so  that  each  part  of  it  unites  and  harmonizes 
with  the  rest.  Nor  is  there  anything  unreasonable  in  its  union  with  itself. 
As  every  living  being  contrives  to  move  itself  by  means  of  its  hands  and 


BOOK  THREE 


83 


feet,  and  has  an  inner  intelligence  by  which  it  is  impelled,  so  we  may  sup¬ 
pose  that  the  various  parts  of  the  universe,  through  the  aid  of  its  indwelling 
mind,  furnish  whatever  is  necessary  for  the  generation  and  birth  of  all 
things.  The  ills  occasioned  by  drought,  for  instance,  may  be  so  occasioned 
through  the  soul  of  the  universe,  because  justice  has  been  despised  and  re¬ 
jected  by  mankind.  This  animal  is  served  not  by  one  hand,  but  by  many 
and  mysterious  ones,  and  though  it  is  too  huge  to  be  bridled,  it  is  tractable 
and  easily  guided.” 

35. 

'T  can  use  no  adequate  illustration  of  this  most  abstruse  and  incom¬ 
prehensible  of  all  subjects,  but  let  us  take  as  an  example  such  a  vessel  as 
the  Egyptians  build  and  send  into  our  seas  to  trade  their  wares  for  ours. 
An  ancient  law,  which  is  still  in  force,  was  enacted  by  King  Erythras 
when  the  Erythraean  Sea  was  under  his  sway,  forbidding  Egyptians  to  voy¬ 
age  on  that  sea  in  war  ships,  and  restricting  them  to  only  one  cargo-boat 
at  a  time.  So  the  Egyptians  have  devised  a  vessel  which  accomplishes  as 
much  as  other  people  require  many  ships  to  do.  After  fastening  the  ribs 
to  the  keel  according  to  the  plan  of  the  vessel,  and  having  joined  to  them 
the  planking  of  the  sides,  and  stepped  the  mast,  they  construct  many  cabins 
like  those  on  deck.  On  board  the  vessel  are  numerous  steersmen  com¬ 
manded  by  the  oldest  and  most  experienced,  and  there  are  many  officers  of 
the  forecastle,  and  the  best  and  most  active  rowers,  and  sailors  for  the 
rigging.  There  is  also  on  board  an  armed  force,  for  the  ship  must  be  pro¬ 
tected  against  the  savages  of  the  coast,  who  inhabit  the  right  shore  of  the 
entrance  to  the  gulf,  in  case  they  should  come  off  to  plunder  her.  Let  us 
imagine  the  universe  to  be  like  that,  and  compare  her  to  such  a  vessel.  The 
first  and  supreme  place  of  command  must  be  given  to  God  the  Creator  of 
this  animal,  and  the  secondary  places  to  those  gods  who  govern  its  various 
parts ;  on  which  point  we  may  accept  the  views  of  the  poets  that  there  are 
many  gods  in  the  sky,  many  in  the  sea  and  in  rivers  and  springs,  many  on 
the  earth,  and  some,  too,  under  the  earth ;  but  let  us  eliminate  from  our 
consideration  of  the  universe  that  underground  region,  if  there  is  one, 
which  they  describe  as  being  so  horrible  and  deadly.” 

36. 

When  the  Sage  concluded  thus,  Damis  says  that  he  himself  was  so 
deeply  thrilled  with  amazement  that  he  shouted  aloud,  for  he  never  would 
have  believed  that  an  Indian  could  be  such  a  master  of  the  Greek  language, 
or  that  even  if  he  had  the  words  he  could  explain  such  subjects  with  such 
a  flow  of  polished  eloquence.  He  says  too  that  the  Sage’s  look  and  his 
smile  were  wonderful,  and  that  he  seemed  divinely  inspired  in  the  exposi¬ 
tion  of  his  thoughts;  and  that  Apollonius,  though  he  spoke  simply  and 


84 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


unassumingly,  contributed  almost  as  much  to  the  discussion  as  the  Sage 
himself,  and  when  he  spoke  seated,  as  he  often  did,  he  looked  like  larchas. 

37. 

When  the  other  Sages  had  applauded  larchas’  opinions,  as  well  as  his 
eloquence,  Apollonius  began  once  more  by  asking  which  they  thought  the 
more  extensive,  the  sea  or  the  land,  and  larchas  replied:  “Limiting  the 
comparison  to  the  actual  seas,  the  land  is  more  extensive,  for  it  includes 
them;  but  if  the  land  is  compared  with  all  waters  there  are,  we  would 
call  the  land  the  less,  because  the  water  underlies  it.” 

38. 

At  this  point  in  the  conversation  their  messenger  came  to  the  Sages, 
leading  in  certain  persons  who  sought  their  assistance.  A  woman,  whom 
he  brought  forward,  asked  relief  for  her  sixteen-year-old  son,  who  she 
said  had  been  possessed  by  a  demon  for  two  years,  its  special  manifestation 
being  in  his  cheating  and  lying.  When  one  of  the  Sages  asked  her 
reasons  for  thinking  so,  she  replied :  “The  demon  loves  that  boy  because 
he  is  very  beautiful,  and  he  does  not  let  him  act  sensibly,  or  go  to  school, 
or  to  archery-practice,  or  stay  at  home ;  but  it  drives  him  into  desert 
regions,  and  the  boy  does  not  even  retain  his  natural  voice,  for  his  tones 
are  deep  and  harsh  like  a  man’s,  and  the  eyes  he  looks  out  of  are  more 
like  some  one’s  else  than  like  his  own.  When  I  weep  and  beat  my  breast 
and  scold  the  boy  about  these  things,  as  I  ought,  he  does  not  appear  to 
know  me;  but  when  I  was  thinking  of  coming  up  here,  for  I  formed 
that  plan  last  year,  the  demon  confessed  who  he  was,  using  the  boy  as  a 
mouthpiece.  He  said  that  he  was  the  ghost  of  a  man  who  was  slain  in 
battle  some  time  ago,  and  that  he  had  loved  his  wife  when  he  died,  but 
three  days  after  his  death  she  disgraced  his  bed  by  marrying  another  man, 
and  so  the  love  of  women  became  hateful  to  him,  and  he  had  changed  him¬ 
self  into  this  boy.  He  promised  that  if  I  would  not  complain  to  you  of 
him  he  would  give  the  boy  many  rich  and  fine  things,  and  I  let  myself  be 
deluded  for  a  time  by  these  assurances ;  but  now  he  has  put  me  out  of  my 
own  house,  and  keeps  it  for  himself,  with  no  right  or  honest  intention.” 
The  Sages  asked  her  if  the  boy  were  near  by,  and  she  said  no,  and  that  she 
had  made  many  attempts  to  bring  him,  “but  that  demon  threatens  cliffs 
and  chasms  and  death  to  my  son  if  I  bring  him  here  to  judgment.”  “Take 
heart,”  said  the  Sage,  “he  will  not  kill  him  when  he  reads  this,”  and  he 
drew  from  his  robe  and  handed  to  the  woman  a  scroll  addressed  to  the 
demon,  adjuring  him  with  direful  threats. 


BOOK  THREE 


85 


39. 

Then  came  forward  a  cripple  about  thirty  years  old  who  had  been  a 
very  bold  lion-hunter,  but  by  the  charge  of  a  lion  his  hip  had  been  dis¬ 
located  so  that  one  leg  was  shorter  than  the  other.  By  stroking  the  hip 
with  their  hands  the  Sages  restored  to  the  young  man  the  ability  to  walk 
naturally.  Another,  whose  eyes  had  flowed  out,  went  away  with  his  sight 
fully  recovered ;  and  another  who  had  a  paralyzed  hand  left  their  presence 
cured.  Then  a  woman,  who  was  in  difficult  labor  with  her  seventh  child, 
was  relieved  on  her  husband’s  petition  by  this  means.  The  Sage  instructed 
the  husband  to  carry  a  live  hare  in  his  bosom  into  the  room  where  his  wife 
lay  in  labor,  and  after  walking  around  her  bed  with  the  hare  to  take  it 
outside  at  once,  for  the  womb  would  come  forth  with  the  child  if  the 
hare  were  not  taken  out  of  doors  immediately. 

40. 

Next,  a  father  complained  that  although  sons  had  been  born  to  him, 
they  all  died  when  they  first  began  to  drink  wine,  and  larchas  told  him : 
“It  is  better  for  them  that  they  should  die,  for  if  they  had  lived  they  would 
not  have  escaped  madness,  being  conceived  evidently  from  too  inflam¬ 
matory  seed.  Your  children  should  avoid  wine,  so  that  they  may  not  ever 
develop  a  taste  for  it.  If  another  child  shall  be  born  to  you,  which  I  per¬ 
ceive  did  happen  seven  days  ago,  you  must  look  for  an  owl’s  nest,  and 
taking  its  eggs  you  must  give  them  to  the  child  to  eat,  soft-boiled.  If 
it  eats  them  before  it  has  tasted  wine,  a  disgust  for  wine  will  be  created 
in  it,  and  it  will  be  very  abstemious,  and  as  if  tempered  by  merely  natural 
heat.”  Constantly  seeing  such  cures,  and  being  filled  with  wonder  at  the 
universal  knowledge  of  the  Sages,  Apollonius  and  Damis  asked  many 
questions  of  them  daily,  and  were  questioned  by  them  in  turn. 

41. 

Both  took  part  in  the  general  colloquies,  but  Damis  says  that  only 
Apollonius  held  private  studies  with  larchas,  in  which  they  devoted  them¬ 
selves  to  astrology  and  divination,  and  dealt  with  the  knowledge  of  future 
events,  and  formulated  sacrifices  and  invocations  in  which  the  gods  take 
delight ;  and  that  from  that  instruction  Apollonius  wrote  four  volumes  on 
divination  by  astrology  (which  books  Moeragenes  also  mentions),  and 
that  he  also  wrote  on  the  subject  of  sacrifices,  and  how  they  may  be  made 
most  suitably  and  acceptably  to  each  of  the  gods.  It  has  always  seemed 
to  me  that  the  science  of  the  stars,  and  all  such  divination,  transcends 
human  powers,  and  I  have  never  found  anyone  who  possessed  it.  I  have 
discovered  his  work  on  sacrifices  in  many  temples,  and  in  many  cities,  and 
in  many  homes  of  wise  men,  and  why  should  any  one  paraphrase  what  has 
therein  been  reverently  expressed  by  such  a  man  with  his  habitual  clear- 


86 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


ness?  Damis  also  says  that  larchas  gave  to  Apollonius  seven  rings, 
engraved  respectively  with  the  names  of  the  seven  planets,  and  that  Apol¬ 
lonius  used  to  wear  each  of  them  on  its  own  day  of  the  week. 

42. 

At  one  time,  when  the  conversation  had  turned  on  the  knowledge  of 
future  events,  Apollonius  being  greatly  inclined  to  that  science,  to 
which  he  often  led  their  discussions,  larchas  said  in  eulogy  of  him :  ‘‘My 
dear  Apollonius,  those  who  delight  in  divination  become  divine  themselves 
*  thereby,  and  practice  their  art  for  the  safety  of  mankind.  To  be  able  to 
foresee  by  one’s  own  powers  the  things  which  others  have  to  visit  an 
oracle  to  learn,  and  to  predict  those  things  to  those  who  do  not  know  them, 
this  seems  to  me  to  make  the  man  truly  blest,  and  gifted  with  the  powers 
of  the  Pythian  Apollo.  And  as  the  method  of  consulting  oracles  requires  of 
each  worshipper,  who  approaches  the  god  for  that  purpose,  that  he  must 
come  purified  to  the  shrine,  or  else  he  will  hear  the  dread  word,  ‘Leave  the 
temple !’  so  I  think  that  the  man  who  undertakes  to  foretell  future  events 
must  keep  his  body  sound  and  his  soul  unspotted  from  any  uncleanness, 
and  not  have  his  mind  warped  by  scars  of  sins.  He  must  prophesy  in  purity 
befitting  to  himself  and  to  the  sacred  tripod  which  he  bears  in  his  bosom, 
and  so  he  will  utter  clearer  and  truer  predictions.  So  it  is  not  strange  that 
you  have  such  a  grasp  of  this  science,  when  you  carry  so  much  of  the 
immortal  ether  in  your  soul.” 

43. 

Turning  to  Damis,  he  said  jocularly:  “Have  you  no  gift  of  prophecy, 
Assyrian,  even  after  long  companionship  with  such  a  man  ?”  “Certainly,  as 
much  as  I  need,  by  Zeus!”  exclaimed  Damis,  “for  when  I  first  happened 
to  meet  Apollonius,  and  saw  how  filled  he  was  with  wisdom  and  gravity 
and  self-control  and  true  steadfastness,  and  later  when  I  had  discovered 
his  strength  of  memory,  and  his  many-sided  knowledge,  and  his  intense 
eagerness  to  learn  even  more,  he  seemed  to  me  more  than  human,  and 
I  foresaw  that  his  companionship  would  make  me  wise,  in  place  of  being 
ignorant  and  foolish,  and  make  me  civilized,  in  place  of  being  a  barbarian, 
and  that  by  being  his  disciple  and  devoting  myself  to  study  under  his 
guidance  I  would  see  India  and  you ;  and  that  having  become  Greek 
through  him  I  might  ultimately  be  admitted  to  intimacy  by  the  Greeks. 
Treat  your  own  prophecies,  which  deal  with  momentous  issues,  as  equal  to 
those  of  Delphi  or  Dodona  or  whatever  oracle  you  choose;  but  let  mine, 
since  it  is  only  Damis  who  utters  them,  and  he  prophesies  only  on  his  own 
account,  be  on  a  par  with  those  of  some  fortune-telling  old  woman,  who 
predicts  about  sheep  and  such  like.”  This  jesting  provoked  a  burst  of 
laughter  from  the  Sages. 


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87 


44. 

When  the  laughter  subsided  larchas  reverted  to  the  original  conver¬ 
sation  about  divination,  and  remarked  that  it  is  the  source  of  many  bless¬ 
ings  to  men,  but  that  its  greatest  boon  is  in  medicine ;  “for  learned  physi¬ 
cians  would  never  have  acquired  their  knowledge  of  that  science  if 
^sculapius,  the  son  of  Apollo,  had  not  handed  down  to  his  own  sons  the 
remedies  suitable  for  dififerent  diseases,  compounded  according  to  his 
father’s  directions  and  oracles,  and  if  he  had  not  since  taught  his  disciples 
which  herbs  should  be  applied  to  ulcers,  and  which  to  dry  and  scaly  erup¬ 
tions,  and  the  proper  doses  of  medical  potions  to  reduce  dropsies,  and  to 
check  hemorrhages,  and  to  halt  tuberculosis  and  other  corroding  diseases 
of  that  sort.  Then,  too,  who  will  deny  that  the  antidotes  of  poisons,  and 
the  prescribing  of  poisons  themselves  in  the  treatment  of  disease,  are  due 
to  divination?  It  seems  to  me  that  no  man  would  have  dared  to  mingle 
the  deadliest  of  all  substances  with  salutary  ones  for  a  patient,  without 
prophetic  knowledge  of  what  the  result  would  be.” 

45. 

Damis  also  took  notes  of  a  conversation  there  concerning  certain  beasts 
and  springs  and  men  which  are  said  to  be  found  among  the  Indians ;  and 
I  will  not  leave  it  out,  though  it  may  be  desirable  neither  to  believe  nor 
to  disbelieve  all  that  was  said.  A  question  asked  by  Apollonius  was :  “Is 
the  animal  called  martichoras  found  in  this  vicinity?”  To  which  larchas 
replied  :  “What  have  you  heard  to  be  the  nature  of  that  animal  ?  For  some 
description  of  its  appearance  must  be  given.”  Apollonius  replied :  “They 
give  extraordinary  and  incredible  accounts  of  it,  such  as  that  it  is  a 
quadruped  having  a  man’s  head,  a  lion’s  size,  and  a  tail  with  spines  like 
thorns  a  cubit  long  which  it  hurls  like  darts  against  its  pursuers.”  He  also 
asked  about  the  liquid  gold  which  is  said  to  flow  from  a  spring,  and  about 
a  certain  precious  stone  which  has  the  properties  of  a  magnet,  and  about 
men  who  live  underground,  and  about  the  pigmies  and  the  umbrella¬ 
footed  men ;  but  to  all  these  questions  larchas  answered :  “Why  should 
I  tell  you  of  animals  and  plants  and  springs,  things  which  you  yourself 
might  have  seen  in  coming  here,  if  they  exist.  It  is  for  you  to  tell  of  such 
marvels  to  others,  but  I  never  heard  yet  of  any  dart-throwing  beast,  or  of 
any  springs  of  gold.” 

46. 

“As  to  the  gem  which  attracts  other  stones  to  itself  and  holds  them, 
there  is  no  question  about  that,  for  you  may  examine  it,  and  test  all  its 
wonderful  properties.  The  largest  of  such  gems  is  of  the  size  of  my  thumb 
nail,  and  it  is  formed  in  cavities  four  cubits  deep  in  the  ground.  It  gen¬ 
erates  so  much  gas  in  forming  that  the  ground  swells  up,  and  often  cracks 


88 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


open.  No  one  can  find  it  by  looking  for  it,  for  it  conceals  itself,  if  it  is 
not  scientifically  extracted ;  and  we  Sages  are  the  only  ones  who  can  suc¬ 
cessfully  mine  for  the  pantarhe,  as  it  is  called,  and  we  do  it  by  using  both 
charms  and  spells.  It  turns  night  into  day  like  a  flame,  for  it  is  fiery  and 
refulgent,  and  if  looked  at  by  daylight  it  dazzles  the  eyes  with  ten  thousand 
scintillations.  Its  light  is  due  to  an  unspeakably  powerful  emanation,  and 
it  attracts  everything  in  its  vicinity.  But  why  say,  in  its  vicinity?  For  you 
may  sink  in  rivers  or  the  sea  as  large  stones  as  you  like,  not  close  together 
but  scattered  far  and  wide  at  random,  and  if  that  gem  be  let  down  to  them 
it  will  collect  them  all  together  by  its  inherent  force,  so  that  they  will 
hang  from  it  in  a  cluster  like  a  swarm  of  bees.”  So  saying  he  showed 
them  the  gem,  and  demonstrated  its  powers. 

47. 

Damis  reports  that  pigmies  do  in  fact  live  underground  as  every  one 
says  they  do,  but  that  they  are  only  found  on  the  farther  side  of  the 
Ganges,  where  he  did  not  go.  On  the  other  hand,  umbrella-footed  men, 
or  long-headed  men,  such  as  are  described  in  the  “Commentaries”  of 
Scylax,  certainly  do  not  exist  among  the  Indians  or  anywhere  else  in  the 
world. 

48. 

Fie  also  says  that  the  gold  which  griffins  extract  is  ore  studded  with 
flakes  of  gold  looking  like  sparks,  which  the  creature  quarries  out  by  the 
strength  of  its  beak.  These  animals  are  found  in  India,  and  are  held  sacred 
to  the  Sun,  and  those  Indian  artists  who  depict  that  deity  yoke  figures  of 
griffins  to  his  four-horse  chariot.  Moreover  he  says  that  they  have  the  size 
and  strength  of  lions,  and  as  they  have  wings  besides,  they  attack  and 
vanquish  not  only  lions,  but  elephants  and  dragons.  They  do  not  fly  very 
hig'h,  only  about  as  high  as  short-winged  birds,  and  they  are  not  feathered 
like  birds,  the  frame  work  of  their  wings  being  covered  with  a  flame- 
colored  membrane,  which  enables  them  to  fly  in  circles  and  to  fight  in  the 
air.  Only  the  tiger  is  not  to  be  caught  by  them,  because  it  is  swift  as  the 
wind. 

49. 

He  says  that  the  phoenix,  which  comes  to  Egypt  every  five-hundredth 
year,  flies  about  in  India  during  all  the  rest  of  its  life,  and  that  there  is  only 
one  of  them  at  a  time,  and  that  it  is  generated  by  the  sun’s  rays,  being  of 
the  size  and  shape  of  an  eagle  and  shining  with  gold,  and  that  near  the 
sources  of  the  Nile  it  sits  on  a  nest  which  it  builds  from  spices.  The  Indians 
confirm  what  the  Egyptians  tell  of  its  being  attracted  into  Egypt,  and 
they  add  that  while  the  phoenix  is  being  burned  up  in  its  nest,  it  sings  to 


BOOK  THREE 


89 


itself  for  five  days.  Those  who  listen  very  skilfully  to  swans  say  that  they 
do  the  same  thing. 

50. 

Apollonius  continued  to  hold  such  intercourse  with  the  Sages  during 
the  four  months  of  his  sojourn  there,  being  admitted  to  all  their  confer¬ 
ences,  public  and  private.  When  he  decided  to  depart,  they  induced  him  to 
send  the  guide  and  the  camels  back  to  Phraotes  with  a  letter,  and  they 
themselves  escorted  him  with  another  guide,  and  with  camels  of  their  own 
supplying,  congratulating  both  themselves  and  him  on  this  prolongation 
of  his  visit.  When  they  finally  bade  him  farewell,  they  told  him  that  men 
would  believe  him  to  be  a  god,  not  only  after  his  death,  but  while  he  still 
lived;  and  they  turned  back  toward  their  place  of  meditation  with  their 
eyes  fixed  on  the  Master,  and  grieving  over  their  reluctant  separation. 
Apollonius  kept  the  Ganges  to  his  right  and  the  Hyphasis  to  his  left  during 
his  ten  days’  march  from  the  sacred  hill  to  the  sea.  On  their  way  they  saw 
many  ostriches  and  buffalos,  many  asses  and  lions  and  leopards  and  tigers, 
and  a  different  kind  of  ape  from  those  found  in  the  pepper-trees,  these 
being  black  and  bristly,  shaped  like  a  dog  and  about  as  large  as  a  small 
man.  Conversing  as  usual  on  what  they  saw,  they  reached  the  coast  at  a 
point  where  stood  a  few  small  trading  stations,  with  cargo  vessels  like  the 
Etruscan,  lying  near.  The  Erythraean  Sea  is  intensely  blue,  and  as  I  have 
said  it  gets  its  name  from  King  Erythras,  who  called  it  after  himself. 

51. 

On  arriving  there  Apollonius  sent  the  camels  back  to  larchas  with 
this  letter  : 

‘‘Apollonius  to  larchas  and  the  other  Sages,  Greeting: 

“I  came  to  you  by  land  and  you  have  now  presented  me  with  the  sea, 
and  by  sharing  your  wisdom  with  me  you  have  enabled  me  to  traverse  the 
sky.  Even  among  the  Greeks  I  shall  be  mindful  of  these  teachings,  so  that 
I  will  converse  with  you  as  if  face  to  face,  unless  I  shall  have  drunk  from 
the  cup  of  Tantalus  in  vain.  Earewell,  best  of  philosophers.” 

52. 

Going  on  board  a  ship  they  set  sail  with  a  gentle  and  favoring  wind, 
and  were  greatly  interested  in  the  way  that  the  Hyphasis  river  pours 
through  its  outlet  into  the  sea  with  great  violence.  Toward  the  end  of  its 
course,  as  I  have  said,  it  forces  its  way  over  reefs  and  through  gorges 
with  overhanging  cliffs,  until  it  breaks  through  to  the  sea  by  a  single  pass, 
which  makes  a  dangerous  current  for  coasting  vessels  venturing  too  near 
shore. 


90 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


53. 

Damis  says  that  they  also  sailed  by  the  mouth  of  the  Indus,  where 
stands  the  city  of  Patala,  surrounded  by  the  river,  and  where  the  fleet  of 
Alexander  came  which  was  commanded  by  the  famous  admiral  Nearchus. 
Damis  confirms  the  statements  of  Orthagoras  concerning  the  Erythraean 
Sea,  that  the  constellation  Ursa  Major  is  not  visible  there,  and  that  those 
sailing  on  it  cast  no  shadow  at  noon,  and  that  any  familiar  stars  which  can 
be  seen  have  altered  their  relative  positions.  Damis  saw  all  this  too,  so  it 
must  be  credited,  and  be  ascribed  to  the  nature  of  the  sky  there.  Damis 
also  mentions  the  small  island  of  Biblus,  where  the  mussels  are  very  large, 
and  sea  mice  and  oysters  and  other  marine  creatures  growing  among  the 
rocks  reach  ten  times  the  size  they  do  in  Greece ;  and  a  gem  is  found  there, 
a  pearl  hidden  in  a  white  shell,  which  takes  the  place  of  the  heart  in  an 
oyster. 

54. 

He  says  that  they  sailed  thence  to  Pegadae,  in  the  country  of  the 
mountain  dwellers,  where  the  rocks  are  copper,  and  the  sand  is  copper, 
and  the  rivers  wash  down  copper  gravel.  They  thought  the  earth  there 
might  have  gold  in  it,  because  the  copper  is  of  such  excellent  quality. 

55. 

He  says  they  came  to  fish-eaters  whose  city  is  named  Stobera,  and 
who  are  clad  in  the  skins  of  great  fishes,  and  even  the  sheep  of  that  country 
taste  of  fish,  and  have  an  unnatural  diet,  for  their  shepherds  feed  them  on 
fish  as  those  of  Caria  feed  theirs  on  figs.  The  Carmani  of  India,  who  are 
a  civilized  people,  live  alongside  a  sea  so  abounding  in  fish  that  they  never 
dry  them  or  salt  them,  as  the  people  on  the  Black  Sea  do ;  and  they  are 
able  to  sell  only  a  small  proportion  of  those  they  catch,  throwing  the  rest 
of  them  back  into  the  water  while  they  are  still  alive  and  flapping. 

56. 

He  says  that  their  vessel  also  touched  at  Balara,  which  is  a  trading 
post  embowered  in  myrtles  and  palm  trees,  and  that  they  saw  laurels  there 
too ;  and  the  whole  region  is  full  of  springs,  with  orchards  and  flower 
gardens  in  all  directions,  and  with  harbors  sheltered  from  every  wind. 
Opposite  that  coast  lies  a  haunted  island  called  Selera,  with  a  channel  of 
only  a  hundred  stadia  between.  It  is  haunted  by  a  Nereid,  a  horrible 
ghoul  who  carries  off  many  sailors,  and  does  not  allow  any  ship  to  moor 
her  cable  to  the  island. 

57. 

I  must  tell  what  he  says  of  a  new  kind  of  pearl,  since  even  Apollonius 
did  not  reject  the  story  as  childish,  and  it  is  well-told,  at  any  rate,  and  one 


BOOK  THREE 


91 


of  the  most  marvellous  sea  yarns.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  on  the  seaward 
side  of  that  island  there  is  a  very  deep  pocket  in  the  sea  bottom  which  pro¬ 
duces  an  extremely  fat  and  white-shelled  oyster  containing  no  pearls. 
Waiting  for  a  calm  sea,  and  further  smoothing  the  surface  by  spreading 
over  it  a  coating  of  oil,  the  fishermen  dive  for  these  oysters,  each  man 
being  equipped  like  a  sponge-fisher,  and  carrying  moreover  a  small  iron 
slab  and  an  alabaster  box  of  ointment.  He  seats  himself  beside  an  oyster 
and  rubs  ointment  on  its  as  a  bait,  whereupon  it  opens  its  shell,  being 
intoxicated  by  the  perfume,  and  is  promptly  pierced  by  a  needle  and 
exudes  a  fluid  which  the  fisherman  catches  on  the  excavated  grooves  of  the 
iron  slab.  There  it  gradually  hardens,  and  takes  on  the  appearance  of  a 
natural  pearl ;  and  yet  this  pearl  is  nothing  but  white  blood  from  the 
Erythraean  Sea.  They  say  that  the  Arabs  of  the  opposite  coast  have  also 
adopted  this  method  of  pearl-fishing.  Damis  says  that  after  passing  this 
place  the  gulf  swarms  with  sea  monsters,  and  that  whales  are  there  in 
herds,  and  to  keep  them  off  each  boat  has  bells  hung  at  bow  and  stern, 
the  sound  of  which  frightens  the  creatures  and  prevents  their  coming  near 
the  vessels. 

58. 

Voyaging  to  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates,  they  entered  it  and  sailed 
up  that  river  to  Vardanes  in  Babylon;  and  after  being  entertained  by  him 
as  hospitably  as  before,  they  returned  to  Nineveh.  Finding  Antioch  char¬ 
acteristically  insolent,  and  quite  indifferent  to  anything  Greek,  they  went 
to  the  sea  coast  near  Seleucia  and  took  ship  for  Cyprus,  and  thence 
to  Paphos.  After  admiring  the  symbolically-posed  statue  of  Venus  there, 
and  after  teaching  her  priests  much  concerning  the  sacred  ceremonies  of 
their  worship,  Apollonius  sailed  to  Ionia,  where  he  was  received  with  the 
admiration  which  was  his  due,  and  with  great  honor  by  all  who  valued 
philosophy. 


92 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


BOOK  FOUR. 

He  visits  Ionia — Ephesus — Smyrna — Ephesus  again,  where  he 

REMOVES  THE  PLAGUE - TrOY  AND  THE  TOMB  OF  AcHILLES - ^OLIA, 

Lesbos,  Athens — Thessalonia — Corinth  and  the  Isthmus — 
Olympia — ^Sparta — Malea — Crete — First  visit  to  Rome — Resus¬ 
citates  DEAD  GIRL - DEPARTURE  FOR  SpAIN. 

1. 

In  Ionia,  when  they  saw  the  Master  on  his  way  to  Ephesus,  even  the 
artisans  left  their  work  and  followed  after  him,  marvelling  at  his  wisdom, 
or  his  beauty,  or  his  mode  of  life,  or  his  bearing,  or  at  all  of  these  things 
put  together.  In  everybody’s  mouth  were  the  responses  concerning  him 
which  had  been  uttered  by  the  oracles  of  Colophon  and  of  Branchidse  and 
of  the  shrine  at  Pergamum ;  all  of  which  agreed  in  saying  that  Apollonius 
shared  the  wisdom  of  Apollo  himself,  and  was  a  man  altogether  wise,  and 
that  the  god  directed  many  health  seekers  to  go  to  Apollonius,  for  so  he 
wished  and  the  Fates  decreed.  Envoys  from  various  cities  came  to  him, 
to  ask  him  to  be  their  guest,  and  to  advise  them  on  their  mode  of  life,  and 
on  the  placing  of  altars  and  statues ;  and  he  directed  them  in  all  such  mat¬ 
ters,  sometimes  by  letter  and  sometimes  by  promising  to  come  in  person. 
When  Smyrna  sent  her  envoys  too,  but  without  saying  why  she  wanted 
him,  merely  begging  him  to  come,  he  asked  the  messengers  why  they 
needed  him,  and  they  replied,  ‘ho  see  him  and  to  be  seen;”  whereupon 
Apollonius  said :  “I  will  come,  and  do  you,  O  ye  Muses,  make  us  love  each 


The  first  time  that  he  discoursed  to  the  Ephesians,  he  addressed  them 
from  the  platform  of  the  temple,  not  using  the  Socratic  method,  but  urg¬ 
ing  and  exhorting  them  to  change  their  ways,  and  counselling  them  to 
devote  themselves  entirely  to  philosophy,  and  to  inspire  Ephesus  with 
studiousness,  rather  than  with  the  indolence  and  insolence  which  he  had 
found  there.  For  the  citizens  were  passionately  fond  of  watching  dancers, 
and  of  indulging  in  pyrrhic  dances  themselves,  so  that  the  whole  city  was 
filled  with  the  sound  of  flutes,  filled  with  effeminate  men,  and  filled  with 
noise ;  and  even  though  they  might  be  alienated  from  him,  he  felt  it  unbe¬ 
coming  to  ignore  their  follies,  and  he  succeeded  in  putting  an  end  to  them, 
by  making  them  distasteful  to  the  majority. 


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3. 

His  other  discourses  were  delivered  in  the  groves  near  the  colonnades 
of  the  gymnasium.  On  one  occasion  he  was  discussing  community  of 
goods,  and  was  teaching  that  men  should  offer  and  accept  mutual  aid. 
The  sparrows  were  sitting  quietly  in  the  trees  roundabout,  when  another 
sparrow  flew  to  them  and  piped  up  as  if  inviting  the  others  to  do  some¬ 
thing,  and  as  soon  as  they  heard  him  all  the  birds  began  to  chirp,  and 
took  wing  and  flew  away.  Apollonius  knew  why  they  had  flown  away,  but 
made  no  comment  on  it,  and  went  on  with  his  subject;  then  seeing  his 
audience  all  looking  after  the  birds,  and  that  some  superstitious  persons 
among  them  were  drawing  presages  of  evil  from  the  sparrows  leaving,  he 
gave  them  the  explanation:  “A  boy  who  was  carrying  grain  in  a  trough 
fell  down,  and  after  picking  up  the  spilled  grain  very  carelessly,  he  went 
away,  leaving  a  good  deal  of  it  scattered  in  the  road.  That  first  sparrow 
found  it,  and  came  to  invite  these  others  to  be  his  guests  at  that  unexpected 
treat.”  Many  of  his  hearers  ran  away  to  investigate,  while  Apollonius  went 
on  with  his  discourse  about  community  of  goods  to  those  who  remained. 
When  the  investigators  came  back  shouting  and  filled  with  wonder,  he 
said:  ‘‘You  see  how  the  sparrows  help  each  other  along,  and  enjoy  things 
in  common ;  but  instead  of  our  following  their  example,  if  we  see  any¬ 
body  sharing  with  another  what  he  has,  we  call  him  wasteful,  and  extrava¬ 
gant,  and  things  like  that,  and  those  whom  he  feeds  we  call  parasites,  and 
sponges.  What  alternative  have  we  left,  then,  but  to  stay  at  home,  and  to 
cram  our  bellies  in  private,  as  if  we  were  fattening  geese,  and  so  stuff  our¬ 
selves  till  we  burst?” 

4. 

At  that  time  the  plague  was  making  its  appearance  in  Ephesus,  and 
he  foresaw  and  having  foreseen  he  foretold  its  coming  long  before  it  be¬ 
came  prevalent.  In  the  middle  of  his  discourse  he  would  often  exclaim : 
“O  Earth,  remain  like  thyself!^’  and  other  such  like  interjections,  some¬ 
times  adding  strange  commands  like  “Save  these  people!”  or  “You  shall 
not  pass  there!”  but  his  hearers  paid  no  attention  to  these  ejaculations, 
thinking  he  was  speaking  mystically;  and  all  the  more  so  because  they 
saw  him  constantly  going  about  from  temple  to  temple  to  ward  off  the 
pest,  by  praying  that  it  might  not  prevail.  Having  reached  the  conclusion 
that  he  could  do  nothing  more  for  them,  in  the  face  of  their  own  indiffer¬ 
ence  to  the  danger,  he  set  out  on  a  journey  through  the  rest  of  Ionia, 
straightening  out  difficulties  everywhere,  and  always  addressing  his  audi¬ 
ences  on  subjects  of  practical  value  to  themselves. 


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APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


5. 

As  he  drew  near  to  Smyrna  the  lonians  came  out  from  the  city  to 
meet  him,  for  they  happened  to  be  celebrating  there  the  festival  of  the 
United  lonians  (Panionia),  and  they  presented  to  him  a  resolution,  in¬ 
viting  him  to  take  part  in  their  assembly.  On  reading  it  he  found  among 
the  movers  and  seconders  some  names  which  were  by  no  means  Ionic,  for 
a  man  named  Lucullus  had  offered  the  resolution,  and  Fabricius  and  other 
foreign  names  had  supported  it;  so  he  wrote  the  convention  a  letter  re¬ 
buking  this  inconsistency.  The  severity  of  his  rebuke  may  be  gathered 
from  the  original  letter,  which  is  still  extant. 

6. 

Coming  before  the  Panionian  assembly  on  another  occasion,  he  asked : 
“What  bowl  is  that  ?”  They  replied :  “The  Panionian whereupon,  filling 
it  and  pouring  a  libation,  he  prayed :  “O  ye  tutelary  deities  of  Ionia,  grant 
to  this  beautiful  colony  that  it  may  safely  sail  the  seas,  and  that  no  evil 
from  that  side  may  ever  attack  this  coast,  nor  the  earth-shaking  ^geon 
ever  smite  its  cities  !”  This  he  said  by  divine  inspiration,  as  I  suppose,  fore¬ 
seeing  the  destruction  which  was  to  come  in  after  times  upon  Smyrna, 
Miletus,  Chios,  Samos  and  many  other  cities  of  Ionia. 

7. 

Seeing  that  the  people  of  Smyrna  were  studiously  inclined  in  every 
branch  of  letters,  he  encouraged  that  taste  in  them,  and  labored  to  increase 
their  eagerness  to  learn,  urging  them  to  seek  distinction  in  their  own 
attainments  rather  than  in  the  beauty  of  their  city;  because,  though  it 
might  be  the  most  beautiful  of  all  cities  under  the  sun,  situated  on  the  sea, 
and  possessing  all  that  the  west  wind  blows  out  of,  yet  even  then  the  crown 
of  its  excellence  should  be  in  its  citizens,  rather  than  in  its  porticos  and 
paintings  and  more  gold  than  there  is.  He  told  them  too  that  buildings 
always  remain  in  the  same  place,  and  are  to  be  seen  only  where  they  stand, 
but  good  men  are  conspicuous  everywhere,  and  are  honored  everywhere, 
and  shed  lustre  on  their  city  wherever  they  may  go  throughout  the  world. 
He  compared  such  beautiful  cities  to  that  statue  of  Zeus  which  Phidias 
carved  at  Olympia,  and  which  still  sits  as  the  artist  designed  it;  but  good 
men  visiting  foreign  lands  are  like  that  Zeus  whom  Homer  imagined 
under  many  forms,  more  nobly  conceived  than  that  ivory  statue,  which  is 
only  seen  on  earth,  while  the  poet’s  conception  shines  in  the  skies  every¬ 
where. 

8. 

Moreover,  he  debated  with  the  Smyrniotes  on  sound  methods  of  city 
government,  as  he  perceived  that  they  disagreed  upon  that  subject,  and  had 


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95 


not  been  able  to  reach  any  conclusion.  He  declared  that  a  properly  admin¬ 
istered  city  needed  discordant  harmony,  which  expression  struck  them  as 
being  paradoxical,  and  a  contradiction  in  terms.  Seeing  that  most  of  them 
did  not  understand  his  meaning,  he  said :  ‘‘Black  and  white  will  never  be 
one  and  the  same,  nor  will  anyone  ever  successfully  mingle  bitter  and 
sweet ;  but  agreement  will  disagree  concerning  the  best  way  of  managing 
public  affairs.  Let  me  explain.  Of  course  any  such  discussion  as  calls  out 
the  townsmen  to  use  swords  and  paving-stones  on  each  other  should  be 
forever  banished  from  the  city,  for  it  stands  in  need  of  the  training  of 
youths,  and  laws,  and  men  always  ready  to  speak  and  to  act.  But  a  mutual 
rivalry  in  public  service,  wherein  each  strives  to  excel  the  others,  one  by 
giving  better  counsel,  another  by  better  discharge  of  official  duty,  another 
by  skilful  diplomacy,  another  by  constructing  finer  buildings  than  any 
other  ^dile,  such  discord  as  this  is  salutary,  in  my  opinion,  and  such  dis¬ 
putes  between  citizens  result  in  gain  to  the  community.  In  old  days  the 
Spartans  thought  it  silly  for  citizens  to  wrangle  over  public  policy,  for 
they  gave  themselves  up  entirely  to  military  training  and  they  all  were 
devoted  to  that,  and  engaged  in  nothing  else;  but  it  seems  the  best  plan 

to  me  for  each  citizen  to  do  for  his  city  what  he  best  knows,  and  to  his 
•  •  •  •  •  «  • 
best  ability.  If  one  man  distinguishes  himself  by  his  eloquence,  and 

another  by  his  sagacity,  and  another  by  spending  money  for  the  benefit 

of  the  public,  and  another  by  his  benevolence,  and  another  by  that  severity 

which  has  no  mercy  for  evildoers,  and  another  by  not  soiling  his  hands^ 

with  bribes,  that  city  will  flourish,  and,  better  still,  it  will  endure. 

9. 

While  saying  this  he  saw  a  three-masted  vessel  leaving  the  harbor, 
with  its  sailors  all  engaged  in  different  tasks  for  taking  it  out  to  sea. 
Calling  his  hearers’  attention  to  it,  he  went  on :  “You  observe  the  crew  of 
that  ship,  how  some  of  them  who  are  oarsmen  are  getting  into  skiffs  to 
tow  her,  and  others  are  hauling  in  the  anchors  and  making  them  fast,  and 
others  are  setting  the  sails  to  catch  the  wind,  ancl  others  are  lookouts  at 
stern  and  bow.  If  any  one  of  them  all  should  fail  in  his  duty,  or  perform 
it  unskilfully,  the  vessel  will  sail  badly,  and  the  crew  will  seem  as  danger¬ 
ous  to  her  safety  as  a  storm ;  but  if  they  are  emulous  of  each  other,  and 
each  strives  not  to  be  outdone  by  the  next  man,  the  ship  will  find  good 
harbors,  and  her  whole  voyage  will  seem  to  be  made  up  of  fair  weather 
and  favoring  winds,  so  that  their  own  seamanship  will  make  them  think 
they  are  under  Neptune’s  protection.” 

10. 

He  was  drawing  all  Smyrna  together  to  listen  to  such  discourses, 
when  the  plague  broke  out  virulently  among  the  Ephesians,  who  finding 


96 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


no  remedy  of  any  avail  against  it,  sent  envoys  once  more  to  Apollonius, 
entreating  him  to  be  their  physician  in  the  epidemic.  The  conditions  ad¬ 
mitted  of  no  delay,  so  merely  saying  'det  us  go,”  he  appeared  instantly  at 
Ephesus ;  in  the  same  way,  I  suppose,  as  Pythagoras  was  at  one  and  the 
same  time  among  the  Thurians  and  among  the  Metapontines.  He  called 
the  Ephesians  together  at  once,  and  bade  them  “Be  of  good  courage,  for 
I  shall  put  a  stop  to  the  disease  today!”  Thereupon  he  conducted  the 
entire  multitude  of  citizens  of  every  age  to  the  amphitheatre,  where  now 
stands  the  statue  of  Hercules  the  Averter  of  Evil.  They  found  there  what 
looked  like  an  old  beggar,  slyly  blinking  his  eyes,  ragged  and  haggard, 
and  carrying  a  wallet  of  breadcrusts.  Apollonius  stationed  the  Ephesians 
around  this  object,  and  commanded  them:  “Gather  up  all  the  stones  you 
can  find,  and  smite  with  them  this  thing  which  is  hateful  to  the  gods  1” 
The  Ephesians  were  taken  aback  by  this  order,  and  remained  quiet,  for 
they  thought  it  would  be  a  crime  to  put  to  death  so  woe-begone  a  stranger, 
for  he  was  begging  for  life,  and  making  many  pleas  for  sympathy.  Apol¬ 
lonius  persisted  in  urging  them  to  stone  the  intruder,  and  not  to  let  him 
escape ;  so  at  last  some  of  those  on  the  outside  of  the  ring  began  to  throw 
stones,  whereat  the  beggar,  who  had  been  blinking  until  then,  glared  sav¬ 
agely  about  with  flaming  eyes.  All  knew  him  then  for  a  demon,  and 
hurled  stones  upon  him  until  they  piled  up  a  great  heap  where  he  had  been 
standing.  After  a  short  pause,  Apollonius  ordered  them  to  remove  the 
stones  and  see  what  a  wild  beast  they  had  slain.  When  they  did  so,  the 
beggarman  whom  they  supposed  they  had  stoned  had  vanished,  but  in  his 
stead  lay  a  dog  shaped  like  a  mastiff,  and  as  large  as  the  largest  lion,  which 
had  been  crushed  by  the  stones,  and  foamed  at  the  mouth  as  if  rabid.  The 
statue  of  Hercules  the  Averter  of  Evil  was  afterwards  erected  on  the  spot 
where  that  apparition  was  stoned. 

11. 

Having  freed  the  Ephesians  from  the  plague  in  this  manner,  and  con¬ 
sidering  his  work  in  Ionia  done,  he  journeyed  toward  Greece,  and  arriving 
at  Pergamum,  he  enjoyed  a  stay  in  the  temple  of  yEsculapius.  There  he 
showed  those  who  sought  help  of  the  god  how  they  might  obtain  visions 
of  good  omen,  and  he  also  healed  many  of  them  himself.  Erom  there  he 
went  to  the  site  of  Troy,  where  he  visited  the  tombs  of  the  Achaian 
heroes,  being  familiar  with  all  the  traditions  of  the  ancients  concerning 
them.  He  said  much  in  commemoration  of  their  exploits  to  those  who 
accompanied  him,  and  after  he  had  also  offered  for  them  many  pure  and 
bloodless  sacrifices,  he  directed  his  companions  to  return  to  the  vessel 
without  him,  as  he  intended  to  pass  the  night  at  the  burial  mound  of 
Achilles.  They  tried  to  dissuade  him  from  doing  so  (for  even  then  Dios- 


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coridas  and  Phsedimi,  and  a  whole  company  of  that  kind  were  already 
going  about  with  Apollonius),  and  they  asserted  that  the  frightful  ghost 
of  Achilles  still  appeared  there,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  region  were 
certain  of  it.  But  he  said :  ''I  have  always  understood  that  Achilles  is  very 
fond  of  company,  for  Nestor  of  Pylos  was  a  great  favorite  of  his  because 
he  always  had  something  interesting  to  say ;  and  he  called  Phoenix  his 
foster-father  and  his  squire  and  all  such  honorable  titles  because  Phoenix 
delighted  him  with  his  remarks ;  and  he  even  looked  indulgently  at  Priam, 
his  deadliest  foe,  after  hearing  him  speak ;  and  when  enraged  at  Ulysses 
he  nevertheless  behaved  so  moderately  in  an  interview  with  him  that 
Ulysses  thought  him  beautiful  rather  than  terrible.  I  think  that  his  shield 
and  his  fiercely-nodding  plume  which  they  tell  about  are  got  up  by  him  to 
alarm  the  Trojans,  because  he  does  not  forget  what  he  suffered  through 
their  treacherous  conduct  about  his  marriage.  As  for  me,  I  have  nothing 
in  common  with  the  Trojans,  and  I  will  converse  with  him  more  agreeably 
than  even  those  former  comrades  of  his.  If  he  kills  me,  I  shall  lie  down 
with  Memnon  and  Cycnus,  and  perhaps  Troy  will  bury  me  in  a  hollow 
grave  like  Hector’s.”  Speaking  thus  half  in  jest  and  half  in  earnest  to  his 
companions,  he  went  back  to  Achilles’  tomb  alone,  while  the  others  went 
down  to  the  ship,  as  it  was  then  nightfall. 

12. 

He  returned  to  them  at  dawn,  saying:  “Where  is  Antisthenes  of 
Paros?”  which  was  the  name  of  one  of  them  who  had  come  to  him  at 
Troy  the  week  before.  When  Antisthenes  answered  the  summons,  Apol¬ 
lonius  asked  him:  “Young  man,  have  you  any  connection  with  Troy?” 
“A  great  deal,”  he  replied,  “for  I  am  of  Trojan  ancestry.”  “Of  the  race  of 
Priam?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  the  other  replied:  “Precisely,  and  for  that 
reason  I  consider  myself  a  noble,  and  of  noble  family.”  “Then  it  is  quite 
natural,”  said  Apollonius,  “that  Achilles  should  forbid  me  to  associate  with 
you,  for  after  he  had  instructed  me  to  inform  the  Thessalians  of  his 
grievance  against  them,  I  asked  him  what  else  I  could  do  to  gratify  him, 
and  he  said :  ‘Do  not  impart  your  wisdom  to  that  young  Parian,  for  he  is 
a  thorough-going  descendant  from  Priam,  and  he  never  ceases  to  praise 
Hector.’  ”  So  Antisthenes  went  away  sorrowful. 

13. 

The  land-wind  began  to  blow  at  sunrise,  and  the  ship  was  about  to 
sail,  when  many  more  persons  applied  for  passage  in  her  notwithstanding 
her  small  size,  for  they  were  eager  to  voyage  with  Apollonius  because  it 
was  now  autumn,  and  the  sea  was  not  safe,  and  they  all  thought  him  to  be 
a  man  superior  to  tempest  and  to  fire  and  to  peril  of  every  nature ;  so  they 
begged  him  to  take  them  as  his  shipmates.  As  there  were  more  of  them 


98 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


I 

than  the  ship  could  accommodate,  and  he  saw  another  larger  vessel,  one 
of  many  near  the  tomb  of  Ajax,  he  said  :  “Let  us  go  on  board  that  one,  for 
the  more  one  is  safe  with  the  better.”  They  did  so,  and  after  rounding  the 
Trojan  cape  he  directed  the  steersman  to  lay  his  course  for  ^olis  opposite 
Lesbos,  and  to  land  at  the  point  nearest  to  Methymna,  saying:  “Achilles 
says  that  Palamedes  is  buried  at  that  spot,  and  that  there  is  an  image  of 
him  a  cubit  long,  but  looking  older  than  Palamedes  was.”  On  disembark¬ 
ing  there  he  said  to  his  shipmates:  “Men  of  Greece,  let  us  revere  this 
great  man  from  whom  has  come  all  wisdom:  In  that  we  shall  be  wiser 
than  the  Achseans,  for  they  slew  him  without  justification,  but  we  honor 
him  for  his  excellence.”  They  all  leaped  down  from  the  ship  then,  and 
going  to  the  tomb  he  dug  there  and  discovered  the  image  which  he  had 
described,  on  the  base  of  which  was  the  inscription:  “To  the  godlike 
Palamedes.”  After  setting  this  up,  as  I  myself  have  seen  it,  and  after 
building  about  it  a  shrine  like  those  used  by  worshippers  of  Enodia,  capable 
of  holding  ten  feasters  at  a  time,  he  offered  this  prayer :  “Forget  the  re¬ 
sentment  with  which  you  once  burned  against  the  Achseans,  Palamedes, 
and  grant  that  many  men  may  become  wise.  So  may  it  be,  Palamedes,  by 
whom  is  wisdom ;  by  whom  are  the  Muses ;  by  whom  am  1.” 

14. 

The  vessel  touching  at  Lesbos,  he  visited  the  shrine  of  Orpheus  there. 
Orpheus  is  said  to  have  delighted  in  uttering  oracles  at  that  place,  until 
Apollo  himself  took  him  in  hand.  For  when  men  no  longer  came  for 
oracles  to  Apollo  at  the  Grynsean  shrine,  or  the  Clarian,  or  wherever  else 
stood  a  tripod  of  his,  and  Orpheus  had  a  monopoly  of  uttering  oracles  be¬ 
cause  his  head  had  been  recently  brought  there  out  of  Thrace,  Apollo 
came  to  him  in  the  midst  of  his  prophesying  and  said :  “Stop  interfering 
with  me,  for  I  have  stood  your  soothsaying  long  enough !” 

15. 

After  that,  while  they  were  sailing  over  the  Euboean  sea,  which  had 
,  seemed  even  to  Homer  to  be  treacherous  and  difficult  of  navigation,  the 
water  was  smooth  and  quieter  than  was  to  be  expected  at  that  time  of 
year,  and  he  conversed  concerning  the  islands  among  which  they  were 
passing,  many  of  them  being  famous,  and  concerning  shipbuilding  and 
navigation,  as  is  usual  at  sea.  When  Damis  dissented  from  some  of  these 
remarks,  and  interrupted  some,  and  did  not  permit  the  other  passengers 
to  ask  questions,  Apollonius  perceived  that  he  wished  some  other  subject 
to  be  broached,  and  said :  “Damis,  why  do  you  interfere  with  our  conver¬ 
sation  ?  It  cannot  be  because  you  are  seasick  or  suffering  from  the  tedium 
of  the  voyage,  for  you  see  how  the  sea  smooths  itself  before  the  ship  and 
floats  it  on.  Why,  then,  are  you  dissatisfied?”  “Because,”  said  Damis, 


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“when  a  great  subject  presses  for  discussion,  about  which  questions  should 
be  asked,  we  are  inquiring  here  of  stale  and  worn-out  topics.”  Apollonius 
asked  him:  “What  is  this  subject  which  you  think  everything  else  should 
be  put  aside  for?”  Damis  replied:  “You  have  conversed  with  Achilles, 
and  no  doubt  you  have  learned  from  him  much  which  we  do  not  know ; 
and  yet  you  have  not  told  us  of  it,  nor  how  Achilles  appeared,  but  you 
talk  of  islands  we  pass,  and  you  tell  us  how  to  build  ships.”  Apollonius 
said :  “If  you  will  not  think  that  I  am  blowing  my  own  trumpet,  I  will  tell 
you  everything.” 

16. 

Then  the  others  united  in  begging  for  the  story,  and  were  eager  to 
hear  it,  so  he  said :  “To  bring  about  my  meeting  with  Achilles  I  did  not 
dig  a  trench  like  Ulysses,  nor  did  I  evoke  his  ghost  by  shedding  the  blood 
of  lambs,  but  I  offered  those  prayers  by  which  the  Indian  Sages  say  they 
invoke  departed  heroes,  and  then  I  said:  ‘O,  Achilles,  the  vulgar  herd 
say  that  you  are  dead,  but  I  do  not  at  all  agree  with  that  opinion,  nor  does 
Pythagoras,  the  source  of  my  philosophy.  If  we  are  right,  appear  to  us. 
My  eyes  will  be  of  great  service  to  you,  if  you  use  them  as  witnesses  that 
you  still  live !’  Thereupon  the  earth  about  the  mound  quivered  slightly, 
and  out  came  a  youth  about  five  cubits  high,  clad  in  a  Thessalian  mantle. 
His  bearing  did  not  seem  at  all  haughty,  as  so  many  imagine  Achilles  to 
have  been.  He  was  grave  in  manner  and  yet  not  gloomy;  and  as  for  his 
beauty,  no  one  yet  has  been  found  to  praise  it  adequately,  as  it  seems  to 
me,  notwithstanding  all  that  Homer  says  of  it,  for  it  is  indescribable,  and 
the  one  who  sings  of  it  is  more  likely  to  make  a  complete  failure  than  to 
celebrate  it  as  it  deserves.  This  apparition  which  I  speak  of  quickly  in¬ 
creased  in  size  until  it  was  twice  as  large  and  more,  seeming  to  me  at  its 
greatest  about  twelve  cubits  high,  and  his  beauty  grew  with  his  growth. 
He  said  that  he  had  never  cut  his  hair,  but  had  kept  it  inviolate  by  direction 
of  the  Spercheian  river,  from  which  river  he  had  first  sought  an  oracle, 
and  his  cheeks  still  wore  their  first  down.  Addressing  me,  he  said :  T 
have  come  to  you  gladly,  for  I  have  needed  such  a  man  for  some  time. 
The  Thessalians  have  long  neglected  to  offer  sacrifices  to  me,  but  I  do 
not  wish  to  be  provoked  by  them,  for  if  I  were  they  would  perish  more 
completely  than  the  Greeks  did  once  on  this  very  spot.  So  I  employ  mild 
expostulation  not  to  scorn  their  time-honored  customs,  nor  to  show  them¬ 
selves  worse  than  these  present-day  Trojans  here,  who  still  sacrifice  to 
me,  although  I  deprived  them  of  so  many  champions.  They  offer  me  the 
first  fruits  of  their  crops,  and  they  try  to  propitiate  me  by  supplication, 
holding  an  olive  branch ;  but  I  will  not  be  propitiated,  for  the  fraud  which 
they  perpetrated  on  me  shall  always  stand  in  the  way  of  the  restoration 


100 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


of  Troy,  and  that  renewal  of  its  ancient  glory,  which  has  come  to  so  many 
other  destroyed  cities.  So  long  as  they  dwell  here  they  shall  be  as  badly 
off  as  if  Troy  had  been  taken  yesterday.  Lest  I  should  treat  the  Thes¬ 
salians  in  the  same  way,  I  appoint  you  my  envoy  to  carry  my  message 
to  their  commonwealth!’  T  will  carry  it,’  I  said,  ‘since  the  object  of  my 
mission  is  to  save  them;  but  I  have  something  to  ask  of  you,  Achilles.’ 
‘I  understand,’  said  he;  ‘you  are  evidently  going  to  ask  about  occurrences 
at  Troy.  You  may  therefore  put  to  me  five  such  questions  as  you  may  wish 
to  ask,  and  as  the  Fates  allow  to  be  answered.’  Then  I  asked  him  first 
whether  he  had  found  burial,  as  the  poets  declare.  He  replied:  ‘I  am 
resting  in  the  way  most  welcome  to  me  and  to  Patroclus,  for  we  met  first 
as  lads  in  coming  here  and  now  one  golden  urn  contains  us  both,  com¬ 
mingled  as  one ;  but  as  to  that  lament  of  the  Muses  and  the  Nereids  which 
poets  say  is  made  for  me,  the  Muses  never  even  came  here,  but  the  Nereids 
do  come  still.’  Then  I  asked  if  Polyxena  had  been  immolated  upon  his 
tomb,  and  he  said  that  it  was  true,  but  that  she  had  not  been  immolated  by 
the  Achseans ;  that  on  coming  to  his  tomb  she  had  voluntarily  set  up  a  sword 
and  fallen  on  it,  so  carried  away  was  she  by  their  mutual  love.  My  third 
question  was:  ‘Did  Helen  come  to  Troy,  Achilles,  or  did  Homer  choose 
to  invent  that?’  He  answered :  ‘We  were  long  mistaken  on  that  point,  and 
we  sent  envoys  to  the  Trojans,  and  began  the  war  for  her  on  the  theory 
that  she  was  in  Troy,  when  really  she  was  staying  in  Egypt  in  the  home  of 
Ppoteus  after  her  abduction  by  Paris;  but  when  we  had  learned  that  fact 
we  continued  the  war  for  Troy  itself,  not  to  withdraw  in  disgrace.’  Com¬ 
ing  to  my  fourth  question,  I  said  that  I  marvelled  that  Greece  should  have 
produced  at  one  time  so  many  and  such  valiant  heroes  as  Homer  brings 
against  Troy,  and  Achilles  replied:  ‘The  barbarians  on  the  other  side  were 
not  much  inferior  to  us,  the  whole  earth  so  abounded  with  valor.’  For  the 
fifth,  I  asked :  ‘How  does  it  happen  that  Homer  did  not  know  of  Pala- 
medes ;  or  if  he  did  know,  does  not  mention  him  in  speaking  of  you  ?’ 
He  replied:  ‘If  Palamedes  did  not  come  to  Troy,  there  was  no  such  thing 
as  Troy!  But  because  that  wisest  and  bravest  of  men  was  slain  to  please 
Ulysses,  Homer  does  not  bring  him  into  his  poems,  so  that  he  may  not  sing 
the  dishonor  of  Ulysses.’  Achilles  went  on  to  lament  for  Palamedes  as  very 
great  and  very  beautiful,  conspicuous  in  youth  and  in  warlike  fame,  ex¬ 
celling  all  in  self-control,  and  a  favorite  of  the  Muses.  ‘Care  for  his  tomb, 
Apollonius,’  he  said,  ‘for  there  is  a  certain  bond  of  union  between  philoso¬ 
phers.  Care  for  his  tomb,  and  restore  to  its  pedestal  the  statue  of  Pala¬ 
medes,  which  has  been  shamefully  cast  down.  It  is  lying  in  ^olis  near 
Methymna,  a  city  of  Lesbos.’  With  these  words,  after  adding  what  I  told 
you  about  the  youth  from  Paros,  he  vanished  with  a  little  flash  of  light, 
for  the  cocks  were  already  beginning  to  crow.” 


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17. 

Such  were  the  occurrences  of  the  voyage,  and  having  sailed  into  the 
Piraeus  at  the  time  of  the  Mysteries,  when  the  Athenians  celebrate  the 
most  frequented  festivals  of  any  Greeks,  Apollonius  went  directly  from  the 
ship  to  the  city.  On  the  way  he  met  many  students  of  philosophy  who  were 
coming  toward  the  harbor  of  Phaleron ;  some  of  whom  had  stripped  them¬ 
selves  to  enjoy  the  sun,  which  is  still  warm  at  Athens  in  the  autumn ;  others 
were  absorbed  in  reading ;  others  were  practicing  declamation,  and  others 
were  debating  with  each  other.  Not  one  of  them  passed  him,  for  they  all 
recognized  Apollonius  and  turned  back  with  him,  with  joyful  greetings ; 
and  a  group  of  about  ten  young  men  who  met  him  pointed  to  the  Parthenon 
and  said :  “By  yonder  Athene !  we  were  just  on  our  way  to  the  Piraeus  to 
sail  to  Ionia  to  find  you !” 

18. 

It  was  the  day  of  the  Epidauria,  on  which  it  is  still  the  Athenian  cus¬ 
tom,  after  making  proclamation  and  sacrificing  victims,  to  hold  a  special 
initiation  into  the  Mysteries  in  honor  of  yEsculapius  at  a  second  sacrifice ; 
it  being  the  anniversary  of  his  special  initiation  by  them  when  he  had  come 
from  Epidaurus  to  Athens  after  the  initiations  were  over.  But  the  great 
mass  of  participants  flocked  about  Apollonius  and  paid  no  attention  to  the 
ceremonies,  being  more  interested  in  him  than  they  were  in  going  away** 
initiated ;  wherefore  he  directed  them  to  attend  to  the  ceremonies,  and  he 
promised  to  meet  them  again  later,  for  he  wished  to  be  initiated  himself. 
But  the  chief  priest  refused  to  admit  him  to  the  rites,  saying  that  under  no 
circumstances  would  he  initiate  a  sorcerer,  and  that  the  Eleusinian  Mys¬ 
teries  should  never  be  revealed  to  anyone  who  was  not  orthodox  in  his 
theology.  Apollonius,  who  was  quite  his  match  in  such  matters,  replied : 
“You  have  not  yet  mentioned  the  greatest  objection  which  you  have  against 
me,  namely,  that  although  I  know  more  of  the  Mysteries  than  you  do,  I 
have  nevertheless  come  to  you  to  be  initiated,  as  though  you  were  wiser 
than  I.”  Those  who  were  present  congratulated  him  for  answering  boldly 
and  as  befitted  his  dignity,  and  when  the  priest  saw  that  his  exclusion  was 
offensive  to  so  many  persons  he  changed  his  tone,  and  said :  “You  may 
be  initiated  after  all,  for  you  have  acted  like  a  wise  man  in  coming  here.” 
Then  Apollonius  retorted :  “I  shall  be  initiated  it  is  true,  but  it  will  be 
hereafter,  and  another  priest  will  initiate  me,”  adding  prophetically  the 
name  of  the  future  chief  priest  of  the  Mysteries,  who  was  given  the  rule 
of  the  temple  four  years  later. 

19. 

Damis  reports  that  many  discourses  were  delivered  at  Athens  by  Apol¬ 
lonius,  and  that  he  did  not  take  notes  of  all  of  them,  but  only  of  the  most 


102 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


important  ones  delivered  on  the  weightiest  subjects.  As  he  knew  that  the 
Athenians  were  fond  of  sacrifices,  he  gave  his  first  lecture  on  religious 
rites,  and  how  each  of  the  gods  might  be  acceptably  worshipped,  whether 
by  day  or  by  night,  by  sacrifice,  or  by  libation,  or  by  prayer.  A  book  by 
him  is  still  extant  in  which  he  treats  that  subject  in  his  own  words.  He 
chose  this  as  his  topic  for  discourse  to  the  Athenians,  because  it  was  a 
question  worthy^  of  his  wisdom  and  of  their  own,  and  next  that  he  might 
confute  the  slanders  and  ignorance  of  that  chief  priest  of  the  Mysteries ; 
for  how  could  it  be  thought  that  he  was  not  orthodox  in  theology  when 
his  theme  was  an  inquiry  into  the  proper  mode  of  worshipping  the  gods  ? 

20. 

While  discoursing  on  libations  he  was  interrupted  by  a  pretty  lad, 
who  came  from  Corcyra  and  traced  his  lineage  back  to  Alcinous  the 
Phseacian,  who  entertained  Ulysses,  but  he  was  so  notoriously  dissolute 
that  a  cart-singer’s  ballad  had  been  sung  about  him.  Apollonius  was  laying 
down  the  proposition  that  no  one  should  drink  from  the  cup  used  for 
libations,  but  that  it  should  be  reserved  for  the  gods  alone,  untouched  by 
other  lips.  He  went  on  to  say  that  a  handle  should  be  affixed  to  the  cup, 
and  that  the  libation  should  be  poured  from  the  side  where  the  handle  is, 
and  where  men  would  be  least  likely  to  put  the  cup  to  their  mouths.  At 
this  point  that  youth  broke  in  with  a  loud  and  rude  laugh.  Fixing  him 
with  his  eye,  Apollonius  said :  ‘‘That  insult  does  not  come  from  you,  but 
from  the  demon  which  possesses  you  without  your  knowing  it.”  The  lad 
really  was  possessed  by  a  demon,  for  he  would  laugh  at  things  which 
seemed  amusing  to  no  one  else,  and  then  would  change  to  weeping  without 
any  reason,  and  would  talk  to  himself  or  sing.  Many  supposed  that  he 
was  impelled  to  do  these  things  by  boyish  exuberance,  when  he  was 
merely  prompted  by  the  demon.  In  interrupting  Apollonius  he  seemed  to 
be  acting  with  his  usual  freakishness ;  but  when  Apollonius  looked  stead¬ 
fastly  at  him  the  demon  uttered  loud  shrieks  of  fear  and  wrath,  like  those 
who  are  burned  or  tortured,  and  it  offered  to  swear  that  it  would  leave  the 
lad,  and  never  enter  any  human  being  again.  Apollonius  commanded  it,  as 
a  master  would  command  a  slave  who  is  cunning,  clever,  impudent,  and 
notorious  for  other  like  faults ;  and  he  wrath  fully  ordered  it  to  come  forth 
from  the  lad  in  such  a  way  that  it  could  be  known ;  whereupon  the  demon 
cried  out :  “I  will  throw  down  that  statue,”  indicating  one  of  the  statues 
near  the  palace  portico  wher^  this  was  occurring.  The  statue  first  swayed 
on  its  base  and  then  fell ;  and  who  could  describe  the  shout  which  went  up 
over  it,  and  the  applause  of  the  wondering  crowd?  The  lad  rubbed  his  eyes 
as  if  waking  from  sleep,  and  looked  up  at  the  sunlight,  appearing  overcome 
with  shyness  at  finding  every  one  staring  at  him.  He  no  longer  had  that 


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wanton  or  disordered  look,  and  he  reverted  to  his  natural  disposition,  as  if 
he  had  swallowed  a  medicine.  Discarding  his  gauzy,  effeminate  garments, 
and  all  his  other  extravagances,  he  came  to  love  simplicity  and  a  plain 
cloak,  and  modeled  himself  entirely  on  the  ways  of  Apollonius. 

21. 

Damis  says  that  Apollonius  criticized  the  way  in  which  the  Athenians 
kept  the  Dionysia,  which  they  celebrate  in  the  last  of  February  and  begin¬ 
ning  of  March.  He  had  supposed  that  they  met  in  the  theater  to  listen  to 
solos  and  to  skilful  music  of  choruses  and  marches,  such  as  are  given  in 
comedies  and  tragedies.  When  he  discovered  that  they  wound  in  sinuous 
dances  led  by  a  clarionet,  and  that  they  took  the  parts  of  Hours,  or 
Nymphs,  or  Bacchantes,  on  the  same  stage  with  the  poetry  and  mysticism 
of  Orpheus,  he  determined  to  reprimand  them  for  it,  and  said:  /‘Cease 
to  dance  away  the  traditions  of  the  men  who  fought  at  Salamis,  and  all 
your  other  buried  heroes.  If  this  is  Spartan  dancing,  go  on  with  it,  ye 
warriors,  it  is  training  for  battle,  and  I  will  dance  with  you.  But  if  it  is  as 
wanton  and  effeminate  as  it  looks,  what  shall  I  say  of  those  trophies  won 
from  the  enemies  of  Athens?  If  you  have  so  far  degenerated  from  the 
ancestors  of  yours  who  hung  them  there,  the  trophies  will  stand  as  wit¬ 
nesses  against  you,  rather  than  against  the  Medes  and  Persians.  How  do 
you  come  by  your  saffrons  and  purples  and  scarlets?  The  Acarnanians 
were  not  clad  so,  nor  did  any  knight  of  Colonus  use  to  ride  in  such  attire. 
Why  need  I  stop  with  those  examples  ?  A  Carian  woman  commanded  one 
of  Xerxes’  ships  against  your  city,  wearing  the  dress  and  armor  of  a  man, 
and  with  nothing  womanly  about  her ;  but  you,  softer  than  Xerxes’  women, 
are  taking  up  arms  against  yourselves.  Those  old  men  and  youths,  and 
even  boys,  who  once  entered  the  temple  of  Agraulos  and  swore  to  die  in 
battle  for  their  country,  will  now  perhaps  swear  to  revel  for  their  country 
and  to  carry  a  thyrsus,  but  never  a  helmet ;  being,  as  Euripides  says,  shame¬ 
fully  shining  in  she-shape.  I  hear  that  you  act  the  part  of  winds,  too,  when 
you  are  said  to  spread  your  garments  like  sails  and  wave  them  high  in  air ; 
but  you  should  at  least  have  some  respect  for  the  winds,  for  they  have  been 
your  allies,  and  have  blown  hard  for  you ;  so  do  not  feminize  your  kinsman 
Boreas,  who  is  the  most  masculine  of  all  winds.  He  would  never  have 
fallen  in  love  with  Orithyia  if  he  had  seen  her  dancing  like  this.” 

22. 

He  also  effected  another  reform  at  Athens.  The  Athenians  used  to 
meet  in  the  amphitheatre  under  the  Acropolis,  and  be  absorbed  in  watch¬ 
ing  men  kill  each  other  in  the  arena,  which  at  that  time  was  a  greater 
passion  with  them  than  it  is  now  at  Corinth ;  and  they  brought  gladiators 
there,  bought  at  high  prices,  who  had  been  adulterers,  sodomites,  burglars, 


104 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


cut-purses,  kidnapers  and  vile  criminals  of  every  sort,  whom  they  trained 
in  the  use  of  arms,  and  compelled  to  fight  each  other.  Apollonius  rebuked 
this  practice,  and  when  the  Athenians  had  invited  him  to  be  present  at 
one  of  these  shows,  he  replied  that  he  would  not  go  to  a  place  which  was 
polluted  and  soaked  with  blood.  He  sent  that  message  by  a  letter  in  which 
he  wrote  that  he  wondered  that  their  goddess  had  not  already  abandoned 
her  Acropolis  “when  you  shed  such  filthy  blood  before  her  eyes.  You  seem 
to  me  to  be  preparing  to  celebrate  the  Panatheneia  by  sacrificing  hecatombs 
of  men  to  the  goddess,  instead  of  oxen  as  heretofore.  O  Bacchus,  will  you 
come  down  into  the  amphitheatre  where  such  blood  is  shed?  Do  these 
philosophic  Athenians  pour  libations  to  you  there  ?  Keep  far  aloof,  rather, 
Bacchus,  for  Cithseron  is  purer !”  I  find  these  instances  of  his  most  serious 
philosophizing  at  Athens. 

23. 

He  next  went  to  the  Thessalians  to  execute  his  mission  from  Achilles, 
at  the  time  when  they  were  gathered  at  Pylse  in  charge  of  the  Amphictyonic 
Council.  They  were  greatly  alarmed  by  his  message,  and  decreed  that  they 
would  renew  their  due  sacrifices  at  the  tomb  of  Achilles.  Apollonius  could 
hardly  refrain  from  embracing  the  sepulchre  of  Leonidas  the  Spartan,  he 
so  admired  the  man.  When  he  came  to  the  mound  where  the  Spartans  are 
said  to  have  been  buried  under  countless  darts  he  overheard  his  companions 
discussing  among  themselves  which  was  the  highest  point  in  Greece,  Mount 
CEta  standing  before  their  eyes  having  suggested  the  question.  Climbing 
the  burial  mound,  he  said  to  them:  “This  point  I  think  the  highest,  for 
those  who  fell  here  for  liberty  made  it  as  high  as  CEta,  and  exalted  it  above 
many  an  Olympus.  But  though  I  reverence  these  men  so  highly,  I  still  set 
Megistias  the  Acarnanian  above  them,  for  he  foresaw  the  fate  in  store  for 
them,  and  yet  he  asked  to  share  it  with  those  heroes,  not  fearing  death,  but 
only  fearing  that  he  might  not  be  allowed  to  die  with  them.” 

24. 

He  visited  all  the  temples  in  Greece,  including  the  shrines  at  Bran- 
chidse  and  Pythia  and  Abse,  and  he  also  entered  the  temples  erected  to 
Amphiaraus,  and  to  Trophonius,  and  climbed  to  the  abode  of  the  Muses 
on  Mount  Helicon.  When  he  entered  any  temple,  and  corrected  the  ritual 
there,  the  priests  gathered  round  him,  and  distinguished  men  followed  him 
about,  for  cups  of  his  wise  instruction  stood  always  ready,  from  which 
they  drank  thirstily.  The  Olympic  games  were  soon  to  be  held,  and  the 
Eleans  sent  him  an  invitation  to  attend  them,  to  which  he  replied :  “You 
seem  to  me  to  detract  from  the  dignity  of  the  Olympic  games,  when  you 
invite  people  to  come  to  them  who  are  already  on  their  way  there.”  Being 
on  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  with  the  sea  roaring  around  Lechaion,  he  said : 


BOOK  FOUR 


105 


“This  neck  of  land  will  be  cut  through,  or  rather  it  will  not;”  thus  pre¬ 
dicting  the  making  of  the  canal  across  the  Isthmus  before  long,  which  Nero 
planned  seven  years  later,  when  he  left  his  imperial  palace  and  came  into 
Greece  to  enter  himself  as  a  competitor  in  the  Pythian  and  the  Olympic 
games,  at  which  he  obtained  prizes  on  the  Isthmus  as  a  harpist  and  as  a 
herald,  and  at  Olympia  as  a  tragedian.  At  that  time  the  emperor  is  said 
to  have  resolved  on  the  task  of  piercing  the  Isthmus  by  a  navigable  chan¬ 
nel  to  join  the  ^gean  sea  with  the  Adriatic,  so  that  no  vessels  need  double 
the  Malean  cape,  for  the  Isthmus  would  open  a  way  for  them  through  the 
canal,  whereby  many  of  them  would  have  their  course  shortened.  What 
sequel  had  this  prediction  of  Apollonius  ?  The  canal,  beginning  at 
Lechaion,  had  been  excavated  about  four  stadia  by  industrious  digging, 
when  Nero  stopped  work  on  it,  some  say  because  certain  Egyptians  who 
had  calculated  the  sea-levels  declared  that  the  sea  above  Lechaion  would 
pour  through  and  flood  ^gina;  and  others  say  that  he  feared  revolution 
in  the  empire.  This  result  was  what  Apollonius  meant  by  saying  that  the 
Isthmus  would  be  cut  and  not  be  cut. 

25. 

At  that  time  Demetrius  was  devoting  himself  to  philosophy  at  Corinth. 
He  was  a  man  who  had  concentrated  in  himself  all  the  vigor  of  the  Cynic 
school,  and  who  was  afterward  spoken  of  with  no  small  honor  by 
Favorinus  in  many  of  his  discourses.  He  had  the  same  regard  for  Apol¬ 
lonius  as  Antisthenes  is  said  to  have  had  for  Socrates,  as  a  philosopher. 
So  he  followed  him  about,  desirous  of  learning,  and  intent  upon  his  teach¬ 
ings.  He  even  turned  over  to  Apollonius  his  most  promising  disciples,  one 
of  whom  was  Menippus  the  Lycian,  twenty-flve  years  old,  of  remarkable 
intellect  and  physical  beauty,  whose  body  was  that  of  a  symmetrical  and 
free-born  athlete.  It  was  common  gossip  that  Menippus  was  the  lover  of 
a  foreign  woman,  who  to  all  appearance  was  beautiful,  and  still  young, 
and  who  claimed  to  be  wealthy,  but  who  in  reality  had  none  of  those  quali¬ 
ties,  for  all  was  illusion.  She  had  met  him  as  he  was  walking  alone  on  the  , 
road  to  Cenchreae,  and  she  was  a  lamia  or  ghoul,  who  had  taken  on  the 
semblance  of  a  woman.  She  clasped  his  hand  and  said  that  she  had  loved 
him  long,  and  that  she  was  a  native  of  Phoenicia,  living  in  a  suburban  quar¬ 
ter  of  Corinth  which  she  named,  adding:  “If  you  will  come  there  this  even¬ 
ing  I  will  welcome  you  with  singing,  and  with  such  wine  as  you  never 
drank,  and  no  rival  shall  disturb  you,  but  we  will  live  together,  beauty  be¬ 
side  beauty.”  He  was  seduced  by  these  overtures,  for  though  strong  in 
philosophy,  he  was  susceptible  to  Venus,  so  he  went  to  her  that  evening,  and 
thenceforward  he  was  constantly  at  her  side  as  her  lover,  not  suspecting 
in  the  least  that  she  was  a  lamia.  By  looking  on  Menippus  like  a  sculptor. 


106 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Apollonius  outlined  and  divined  the  youth  in  his  mind,  and  after  arriving 
at  complete  knowledge  of  him,  he  said  to  him :  '‘You  are  beautiful,  and 
are  courted  by  a  beautiful  woman,  as  you  think,  when  the  fact  is  that  you 
are  cherishing  a  serpent,  as  the  serpent  does  you.”  While  Menippus  won¬ 
dered  what  he  could  mean,  Apollonius  went  on :  “She  is  your  mistress  but 
not  your  wife.  Why  is  that  ?  Do  you  think  she  loves  you  ?”  “Yes,  by  Zeus  !” 
said  Menippus,  “all  her  actions  prove  it !”  “Are  you  willing  to  marry  her 
then?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  Menippus  answered:  “I  would  indeed  be 
happy  to  marry  the  woman  who  loves  me  as  she  does.”  “When  will  the 
wedding  be  ?”  asked  Apollonius.  “The  matter  is  in  train,”  replied  Menip¬ 
pus,  “and  perhaps  it  will  be  tomorrow.”  Waiting  then  until  the  time  of 
the  wedding  feast,  Apollonius  came  there  as  the  guests  arrived,  and  he 
asked :  “Where  is  that  tender  bride  whom  you  have  come  to  see  ?”  “Here 
she  is,”  said  Menippus,  rising  with  a  blush.  Apollonius  asked :  “Whose 
are  this  silver  and  gold  and  the  other  ornaments  of  the  occasion,  yours  or 
hers  ?”  “They  are  hers,”  said  Menippus,  “for  there  is  nothing  of  mine  here 
except  this  cloak,”  showing  his  mantle.  Then  Apollonius  turned  to  the 
assembled  guests  and  said:  “Did  you  ever  see  the  gardens  of  Tantalus, 
which  are  and  are  not?”  They  answered:  “We  have  seen  the  description 
of  them  in  Homer,  but  of  course  none  of  us  has  ever  descended  into  Hades 
where  they  are.”  “You  may  suppose  then  that  they  are  like  all  this  estab¬ 
lishment,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  none  of  these  things  is  substantial  either, 
but  all  are  deception.  You  will  understand  that  better  when  I  say  that  this 
fair  bride  is  one  of  those  fiends  whom  the  people  call  a  lamia.  These  beings 
love  and  are  fond  of  sexual  pleasure,  but  still  more  of  eating  human  flesh, 
and  they  use  the  seduction  of  the  senses  to  entice  those  victims  whom  they 
mean  to  feast  upon.”  “Hold  your  tongue  and  leave  the  house  !”  shrieked  the 
bride,  pretending  to  be  horrified  by  what  she  heard ;  and  she  was  going  on 
to  revile  philosophers  as  fools  when  suddenly  all  the  show  of  gold  cups  and 
silver  plate  changed  to  airy  nothings  and  vanished  before  their  eyes,  and 
the  cooks  and  the  butlers  and  the  rest  of  the  household  evaporated  under 
the  exorcism  of  Apollonius.  Then  the  lamia  simulated  weeping,  and  be¬ 
sought  him  not  to  torment  her,  or  force  her  to  confess  what  she  was,  but 
he  insisted,  never  relaxing  his  compulsion,  until  she  admitted  that  she  was 
a  lamia  and  that  she  was  fattening  up  Menippus  with  dainties  so  that  she 
might  devour  his  body,  and  that  she  made  a  practice  of  feeding  on  bodies 
which  were  young  and  beautiful,  because  their  blood  was  untainted.  This 
exploit  of  Apollonius  is  widely  known,  but  it  seems  desirable  to  give  this 
full  account  of  it  again  because  many  of  those  who  are  familiar  with  his 
doings  in  Central  Greece  have  merely  heard  generally  that  at  some  time  he 
had  unmasked  a  lamia  at  Corinth,  but  do  not  know  what  he  found  her 


BOOK  FOUR 


107 


doing,  and  that  Menippus  was  the  one  for  whose  sake  he  acted.  This  is 
the  story  as  it  is  told  by  Damis  and  copied  from  him  by  me. 

26. 

About  that  time  he  had  an  altercation  at  Corinth  with  Bassus,  whom 
he  suspected  with  good  reason  of  having  murdered  his  own  father,  and 
who  had  an  unbridled  tongue,  although  he  professed  to  be  a  philosopher. 
Apollonius  silenced  his  abuse  by  attacking  him  with  voice  and  pen,  and  his 
accusation  that  the  man  was  a  parricide  was  generally  accepted  as  true, 
because  a  person  of  Apollonius’  stamp  would  never  have  descended  to 
slander,  nor  make  unsupported  charges. 

27. 

The  following  things  occurred  during  his  stay  at  Olympia.  On  his 
arrival  there  he  was  met  by  envoys  from  the  Spartans,  sent  to  invite  him 
to  their  city.  There  was  nothing  of  the  Spartan  type  about  them,  however, 
for  they  bore  themselves  more  daintily  than  that  people  are  supposed  to 
do,  and  seemed  of  very  luxurious  habits.  After  observing  these  men  with 
their  polished  legs  and  their  hair  shining  with  oil,  and  how  they  were  clad 
in  soft  raiment  and  not  even  bearded,  he  wrote  to  the  Ephors  of  Sparta 
to  suggest  that  they  make  proclamation  forbidding  the  use  of  pitch  as  a 
depilatory  in  the  public  baths,  and  banishing  therefrom  the  female  hair- 
removers,  and  generally  restoring  the  ancient  practices.  They  did  so,  and 
from  that  time  the  Spartan  schools  of  wrestling  flourished  once  more, 
and  competitions  and  meals  in  common  were  revived  and  Sparta  became 
like  herself  again.  When  he  learned  that  they  had  reformed  their  way  of 
living,  he  wrote  them  from  Olympia  a  letter  more  laconic  than  a  Spartan 
dispatch : 

‘'Apollonius  to  the  Ephors,  Greeting :  It  is  heroic  not  to  err ;  noble  to 
admit  one’s  error.” 

28. 

On  seeing  the  Phidian  statue  of  Zeus  at  Olympia  he  addressed  it : 
“Hail,  good  Zeus !  for  thou  art  so  good  that  thou  impartest  thyself  to  men.” 
He  also  interpreted  the  bronze  Milo,  and  the  meaning  of  its  accessories. 
Milo  is  represented  as  standing  on  a  discus  with  both  feet  united,  holding 
a  pomegranate  in  his  left  hand,  and  stiffly  extending  the  fingers  of  his  right 
hand  as  though  he  were  thrusting  them  through  something.  The  gen¬ 
erally  accepted  opinion  at  Olympia  and  throughout  Arcadia  is  that  this 
pose  indicates  his  invincibility  as  an  athlete,  who  could  not  be  stirred  from 
his  foothold,  and  that  his  grasp  of  the  pomegranate  typifies  the  firm  grip 
of  his  fingers,  and  that  his  fillet  l^etokens  chastity,  and  the  union  of  the 
joints  of  his  extended  fingers  signifies  that  no  one  could  separate  them  by 


108 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


pulling  at  one.  Apollonius  said  that  all  these  theories  were  wisely  devised, 
but  that  the  true  one  was  wiser  yet.  “To  explain  to  you  the  meaning  of 
this  Milo,  the  Crotonians  in  this  figure  show  the  athlete  as  a  priest  of  Juno. 
The  fillet  explains  itself,  as  he  was  a  priest.  The  pomegranate  is  the  only 
tree  sacred  to  Juno;  and  as  to  the  discus,  Juno’s  priests  always  invoke  her 
standing  on  a  round  shield.  The  position  of  the  right  hand  has  the  same 
significance,  and  the  joining  of  the  fingers  and  the  want  of  separation  of 
the  feet  are  merely  due  to  the  archaic  style  of  the  moulder.” 

29. 

On  attending  the  Olympic  games  he  strongly  approved  of  the  care  with 
which  the  Eleans  managed  them,  and  of  the  discipline  which  they  main¬ 
tained,  wherein  they  expected  to  be  judged  as  rigidly  as  the  contending 
athletes,  and  how  they  took  great  care  that  nothing  should  go  wrong,  by 
either  omission  or  commission.  When  asked  by  his  companions  what  he 
thought  of  the  Eleans  as  managers  of  the  games,  he  replied:  “I  do  not 
know  if  they  are  wise  [sophous],  but  they  certainly  are  masters  of  their 
craft  [sophistas] .” 

30. 

How  he  criticized  conceited  writers,  and  set  them  down  as  unlearned, 
if  they  ventured  on  a  subject  beyond  their  powers,  may  easily  be  gathered 
from  this  instance.  A  young  man  with  a  high  opinion  of  himself,  whom 
he  happened  to  meet  in  a  temple,  said  to  him :  “I  wish  you  would  honor 
me  with  your  attendance  at  a  recital  which  I  am  to  give  tomorrow.” 
Apollonius  asked  what  he  intended  to  recite,  and  he  replied :  “An  oration 
upon  Zeus  which  I  have  composed,”  showing  the  scroll  tucked  under  his 
cloak,  and  evidently  pluming  himself  on  its  size.  “What  do  you  mean  to 
praise  in  Zeus  ?”  asked  Apollonius ;  “is  it  this  Phidian  Zeus  sitting  here, 
and  that  there  is  nothing  in  all  the  world  to  match  it?”  “That  of  course,” 
said  the  young  man,  “but  many  things  before  that  and  many  after  it ;  for 
the  seasons  of  the  year,  and  everything  on  the  earth  and  above  it,  and  the 
winds  and  the  stars,  all  things  are  from  Zeus.”  “You  seem  very  enthusi¬ 
astic  in  your  praises,”  said  Apollonius.  The  other  said:  “That  is  why  I 
have  even  included  in  my  list  praises  of  gout,  and  blindness,  and  deafness.” 
“Then  do  not  deprive  dropsy  and  catarrh  of  their  share  in  your  laudation,” 
said  Apollonius.  “If  you  start  in  to  praise  things  of  that  kind,  it  might  be 
a  good  plan  to  follow  funerals,  eulogizing  the  disease  of  which  the  corpse 
died,  which  might  lessen  the  grief  of  the  parents  and  children  and  the 
rest  of  the  family.”  Seeing  the  young  man  already  somewhat  subdued  by 
these  words,  he  went  on:  “My  dear  author,  which  subject  will  a  eulogist 
praise  with  greater  discrimination,  what  he  knows,  or  what  he  does  not 
know  ?”  “What  he  knows,”  said  the  youth.  “How  can  any  one  praise  with 


BOOK  FOUR 


109 


discrimination  what  he  does  not  understand  ?”  Then  Apollonius  inquired : 
“Did  you  then  compose  the  eulogy  for  your  father’s  funeral  not  long 
ago?”  “I  tried  to  do  so,”  answered  the  youth,  “but  he  seemed  to  me 
so  great  and  noble  a  character,  besides  being  the  most  beautiful  man  I 
ever  saw,  skilful  in  managing  his  affairs,  invariably  acting  with  wisdom 
under  all  circumstances,  that  I  abandoned  the  idea  of  delivering  the 
eulogy,  lest  I  should  fail  in  doing  justice  to  him.”  Then  Apollonius  burst 
out  wrathfully,  as  was  his  manner  with  bores:  “You  off-scouring!  You 
recognize  your  incapacity  to  eulogize  your  own  father  adequately,  though 
you  knew  him  as  well  as  you  know  yourself,  and  yet  you  undertake  so  * 
flippantly  to  apply  your  measuring-rod  to  the  praises  of  the  father  of  gods 
and  men,  the  creator  of  all  things  about  us  and  above  us,  without  any  awe 
of  him  whom  you  ignorantly  praise,  and  unaware  of  your  audacity  in  try¬ 
ing  to  do  what  far  transcends  the  powers  of  man  I” 

31. 

At  Olympia  Apollonius  discoursed  upon  the  most  useful  subjects, 
such  as  wisdom,  and  manliness,  and  self-control,  and  every  other  virtue, 
and  he  delivered  his  discourses  from  the  temple  platform,  filling  all  hear¬ 
ers  with  admiration  both  of  his  opinions  and  of  his  mode  of  expressing 
them.  At  one  of  those  times  the  Spartan  envoys,  gathering  about  him 
before  the  statue  of  Zeus,  solemnly  constituted  him  the  guest  of  their  city, 
the  father  of  their  city’s  youth,  the  pride  of  their  old  men,  and  the  guide  of 
their  civil  life.  When  a  Corinthian,  to  tease  them,  asked  them  if  they  would 
not  celebrate  for  him  a  theophany  (a  ceremony  of  Delphi  at  which  the 
statues  of  the  gods  were  exhibited  to  the  people),  they  answered:  “By 
Castor  and  Pollux,  we  are  quite  ready  to  do  so !”  but  Apollonius  induced 
them  to  give  up  the  idea,  that  he  might  not  excite  jealousy.  After  crossing 
the  Taygetus,  and  seeing  Sparta  flourishing,  with  the  laws  of  Lycurgus 
actually  in  force  there,  he  was  not  unwilling  to  debate  with  the  Spartan 
magistrates  on  any  subject  which  they  selected.  Thus,  on  his  arrival,  they 
asked  him  how  the  gods  should  be  worshipped,  and  he  replied:  “As  our 
masters.”  Then  they  asked,  “and  the  demi-gods  ?”  to  which  he  replied,  “as 
our  ancestors;”  and  when  they  asked  him  the  third  question,  “and  how 
men?”  he  answered,  “that  is  no  question  for  Spartans!”  At  another  time 
they  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  their  laws,  and  he  replied :  “They  are 
the  best  of  teachers,  and  they  would  have  been  the  most  successful  of 
teachers,  if  their  scholars  had  not  been  inattentive.”  When  they  asked 
what  he  would  advise  them  concerning  manliness,  he  said :  “Why  need 
you  ask  about  manliness?” 


no 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


32. 

At  the  time  of  his  visit  it  happened  that  a  young  Spartan  was  accused 
before  the  Ephors  of  failing  in  civic  duty.  He  was  a  descendant  of  that 
Callicratidas  who  had  commanded  the  fleet  at  Arginusae,  and  being  ab¬ 
sorbed  in  commerce  he  did  not  enter  public  life,  but  built  ships  and  sailed 
them  to  Carthage  and  to  Sicily.  Hearing  that  he  was  to  be  prosecuted 
for  this,  Apollonius  thought  it  a  pity  to  allow  the  youth  to  be  punished, 
and  said  to  him :  “My  good  lad,  why  do  you  go  about  looking  so  anxious 
and  pensive  ?”  He  replied :  “A  criminal  charge  has  been  lodged  against 
me,  that  I  have  devoted  myself  to  commerce,  and  have  neglected  public 
duties.”  Apollonius  asked,  “was  your  father  or  your  grandfather  a  mer¬ 
chant?”  “Of  course  not,”  the  young  man  replied,  “they  were  all  gymna- 
siarchs  and  Ephors  and  high  officials.  Callicratidas,  one  of  my  ancestors, 
was  even  the  admiral  of  the  fleet.”  “Do  you  mean  the  one  who  fought  at 
Arginusse?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  the  other  replied:  “That  is  the  man. 
He  was  killed  while  commander-in-chief  in  that  action.”  Apollonius 
asked:  “Then  that  death  of  your  great-grandfather  did  not  give  you  a 
distaste  for  the  sea?”  The  other  answered:  “Not  at  all;  my  voyages 
are  not  for  the  purpose  of  fighting.”  Apollonius  continued :  “But  can  you 
mention  any  kind  of  men  who  are  worse  off  than  merchants  and  ship¬ 
masters?  In  the  first  place  they  sail  about  in  quest  of  some  market  which 
is  poorly  supplied,  and  when  they  find  it  they  sell  and  are  sold  in  a  crowd 
of  hucksters  and  brokers.  They  lend  their  money  at  an  outrageous  rate 
of  interest,  and  then  worry  how  to  get  their  principal  back.  If  they  succeed 
in  doing  that  they  call  it  a  good  voyage,  and  they  dilate  upon  the  fact  that 
they  have  not  wrecked  their  vessel,  intentionally  or  otherwise.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  their  receipts  are  not  large  enough  to  pay  what  they 
owe,  they  take  to  their  boats  and  send  the  ship,  with  other  people’s  cargo, 
on  the  rocks,  impudently  calling  it  the  act  of  God,  and  rather  pleased  than 
otherwise  to  deprive  the  owners  of  it.  Even  if  that  description  is  not  true 
of  all  mariners  and  seafaring  men,  why  is  it  not  disgraceful  that  a  Spartan, 
born  of  a  family  which  has  been  cherished  in  Sparta’s  bosom,  should  lurk  in 
a  ship’s  hold,  unmindful  of  Lycurgus  and  of  Iphitus,  and  thinking  only  of 
freight  and  tonnage?  If  nothing  else,  at  least  he  ought  to  remember  that 
Sparta  herself,  so  long  as  she  fought  on  land,  seemed  to  touch  the  sky, 
but  when  she  sought  success  at  sea,  her  glory  vanished,  sunk  on  land  as 
well  as  at  sea.”  This  exhortation  so  crushed  the  youth  that  he  threw 
himself  face  downward  on  the  ,  ground  and  wept,  to  hear  how  he  had 
degenerated  from  his  ancestors.  Eorthwith  he  sold  the  ships  in  which 
he  had  passed  his  life,  and  when  Apollonius  saw  that  he  had  come  to  his 
senses  and  loved  the  land,  he  brought  him  before  the  Ephors  and  pro¬ 
cured  the  dismissal  of  the  charge.  '  ' 


BOOK  FOUR 


111 


33. 

He  also  did  this  among  other  things  at  Sparta.  A  letter  from  the 
emperor  was  brought  to  the  Spartans  accusing  their  community  of  having 
too  much  abused  the  liberty  allowed  them,  which  letter  was  occasioned  by 
biased  reports  from  the  proconsul  of  Greece.  The  Spartans  were  at  a  loss 
to  know  what  answer  they  should  make,  and  the  citizens  disputed  among 
themselves  whether  they  should  deprecate  the  emperor’s  displeasure,  or 
should  answer  him  boldly.  Not  being  able  to  agree,  they  asked  Apollonius’ 
advice  upon  the  tone  of  their  reply,  and  coming  before  their  assembly  he 
said  briefly:  ‘‘Palamedes  invented  letters  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of 
writing,  but  also  for  the  purpose  of  learning  what  should  not  be  written.” 
By  this  saying  he  induced  the  Spartans  to  show  themselves  neither  too 
bold  nor  too  obsequious,  in  answering  the  emperor. 

34. 

Having  spent  some  time  in  Sparta  after  the  Olympic  games,  he  went 
to  Malea  toward  the  end  of  winter,  intending  to  proceed  to  Rome  in  the 
early  spring.  While  waiting  there,  he  dreamed  that  a  prodigious  old 
woman  embraced  him  and  begged  his  company  before  he  should  go  to 
Italy,  saying*  that  she  had  been  the  nurse  of  Zeus,  and  wearing  a  wreath 
made  up  of  every  product  of  earth  and  sea.  Pondering  over  this  dream,  he 
understood  that  it  directed  him  to  sail  first  to  Crete,  which  is  called  the 
nurse  of  Zeus  because  he  was  brought  forth  there,  although  the  wreath 
might  also  signify  another  island.  There  being  many  vessels  at  Malea 
bound  for  Crete,  he  took  passage  on  one  which  would  accommodate  his 
“commune,”  as  he  used  to  call  his  companions  and  their  servants,  for  he 
was  mindful  of  them  as  well.  After  sailing  past  Cydonia  the  vessel  touched 
at  Cnossus,  for  his  companions  wished  to  explore  the  labyrinth  which  is 
still  shown  there,  and  is  said  to  have  held  the  Minotaur.  Apollonius  made 
no  difficulties,  but  said  that  for  his  own  part  he  would  not  be  a  witness  of 
the  injustice  of  Minos.  Thence  he  went  to  Gortyna,  being  desirous  of  see¬ 
ing  Mount  Ida,  which  he  climbed,  visiting  all  the  sacred  places  on  it,  and 
he  went  also  to  the  Lebensean  temple  which  is  dedicated  to  Bisculapius. 
Just  as  Asia  goes  to  Pergamum,  so  all  Crete  gathers  at  this  shrine,  and 
many  pilgrims  from  Libya  sail  over  to  it  as  well,  for  it  is  built  on  the  shore 
of  the  Libyan  Sea  near  Ph^estus,  where  a  gravel  bar  breaks  the  force  of 
the  waves.  The  temple  is  said  to  be  called  Lebenaean,  or  the  “standing 
lion,”  because  the  cape  jutting  out  from  it  bears  the  shape  of  a  lion,  made 
up  of  many  rocks  piled  together  accidentally ;  and  the  fable  is  told  of  the 
cape  that  this  lion  is  one  of  those  which  were  once  harnessed  to  Rhea’s 
chariot.  One  day  at  noon,  while  Apollonius  was  discoursing  at  this  temple 
to  a  large  assembly  of  worshippers,  a  violent  earthquake  shook  all 


112 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Crete,  and  thunder  roared  from  underground  instead  of  from  the  clouds, 
and  the  sea  withdrew  about  seven  stadia  from  the  shore.  Many  in  the 
gathering  were  apprehensive  that  the  returning  wave  would  drag  down 
the  temple,  and  would  wash  them  away,  but  Apollonius  said :  “Be  of  good 
courage ;  for  the  sea  has  brought  forth  land.”  They  imagined  that  he  was 
assuring  them  that  the  elements  were  in  accord,  so  that  the  sea  would  do  no 
harm  to  the  land;  but  a  few  days  later  people  coming  from  Cydoniatis 
reported  that  at  about  noon  of  the  day  when  that  portent  occurred  an 
island  had  been  thrown  up  out  of  the  sea,  in  the  strait  between  Thera  and 
Crete.  We  omit  the  rest  of  Damis’  rather  voluminous  account  of  the  Mas¬ 
ter’s  stay  in  Crete,  and  come  at  once  to  the  serious  difficulties  which  hap¬ 
pened  to  him  in  Rome  after  leaving  that  island. 

35. 

Nero  was  opposed  to  the  study  of  philosophy,  which  seemed  to  him  a 
meddlesome  business,  used  as  a  disguise  for  fortune-telling;  and  in  fact 
the  philosopher’s  cloak  was  sometimes  stigmatized  in  the  law  courts  as  the 
“soothsayer’s  veil.”  To  say  nothing  of  others,  Musonius  of  Babylon,  who 
was  inferior  only  to  Apollonius  himself,  had  been  imprisoned  for  being  a 
philosopher,  and  was  still  in  jail,  in  danger  of  his  life.  Indeed  it  was  no 
fault  of  the  man  who  thrust  him  into  jail  that  he  did  not  die  there,  for 
only  the  strength  of  his  constitution  kept  him  alive.  Philosophy  was  at  this 
pass  when  Apollonius  came  to  Rome. 

36. 

At  the  grove  in  Aricia,  a  hundred  and  twenty  stadia  from  the  City,  he 
happened  on  Philolaus  of  Cittium,  who  was  a  finished  speaker,  but  too 
faint-hearted  to  be  steadfast.  Philolaus,  having  fled  ^  from  Rome  like  a 
fugitive  himself,  was  urging  every  philosopher  he  met  to  do  the  like.  He 
came  to  Apollonius,  to  tell  him  to  yield  to  necessity  and  to  stay  away  from 
Rome,  because  philosophy  was  odious  there ;  and  he  whispered  all  that  had 
occurred,  looking  over  his  shoulder  the  while  lest  he  should  be  overheard. 
“You  now,”  he  said,  “are  the  thing  they  most  abhor,  as  you  go  along 
escorted  by  your  troop  of  philosophers,  unconscious  that  Nero  has  sta¬ 
tioned  spies  at  every  gate,  who  will  arrest  you  and  these  disciples  of  yours 
before  you  can  even  enter  the  city.”  “What  do  they  say  are  the  emperor’s 
favorite  pursuits,  Philolaus?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  the  other  answered: 
“He  drives  a  chariot  in  public,  and  he  sings  in  the  Roman  theatres,  and  he 
consorts  with  gladiators,  and  he  even  comes  out  as  a  gladiator  himself,  to 
cut  men’s  throats  in  the  arena.”  Then  Apollonius  said :  “My  dear  fellow, 
do  you  think  that  a  more  interesting  spectacle  than  so  shameless  an  emperor 
can  be  offered  to  educated  men?  Plato  says  that  man  is  the  plaything  of 
God,  but  an  emperor  who  has  become  the  plaything  of  men,  flaunting  his 


BOOK  FOUR 


113 


own  dishonor  before  the  mob,  what  a  subject  of  discussion  does  he  not 
afford  to  philosophers !”  “That  is  very  true,”  said  Philolaus,  “if  it  could 
only  be  observed  in  safety ;  but  you  may  be  arrested  and  die  in  prison,  and 
Nero  may  have  eaten  you  raw,  before  you  have  ever  seen  him  do  any  of 
those  things.  It  will  cost  you  dear  to  come  across  him,  even  dearer  than  it 
cost  Ulysses  to  meet  the  Cyclops,  although  he  lost  many  of  his  comrades 
through  his  curiosity  because  he  did  not  keep  away  from  a  foul  and  dis¬ 
gusting  sight.”  Apollonius  asked :  “Then  do  you  think  that  this  monster, 
if  he  acts  so,  is  less  blinded  than  the  Cyclops?”  Philolaus  answered: 
“Ulysses  might  do  as  he  liked,  but  as  for  you,  have  mercy  on  these  com¬ 
panions  of  yours !” 

37. 

He  cried  that  out  in  a  shrill  and  tearful  voice,  and  fearing  that  the 
young  disciples  would  be  infected  by  Philolaus’  fright  and  would  lose  their 
courage  as  he  had  done,  Damis  drew  Apollonius  aside  and  said:  “That 
hare  will  ruin  the  spirit  of  our  young  men,  by  filling  them  with  fear  and 
trembling  over  everything  before  them.”  Apollonius  replied :  “Of  all  the 
many  favors  which  have  often  come  to  me  from  the  gods  unasked,  I 
would  call  this  which  is  offered  now  the  greatest,  for  it  gives  a  touchstone 
which  will  surely  prove  those  of  our  young  men  who  are  really  devoted 
to  philosophy,  and  those  of  them  who  would  rather  do  something  else.” 
Indeed,  the  disciples  of  too  infirm  a  purpose  were  detected  at  once;  for 
some  of  them,  intimidated  by  what  Philolaus  had  said,  pretended  illness, 
and  others  said  that  they  had  spent  all  their  travelling  money ;  and  others 
that  they  were  homesick ;  and  others  that  they  had  been  warned  by  dreams 
against  going  further ;  until  out  of  thirty-four  disciples  who  had  started 
with  the  Master  for  Rome,  only  eight  were  left,  for  the  others  deserted 
him,  making  their  escape  from  both  Nero  and  philosophy. 

38. 

Calling  together  the  faithful  remnant,  among  whom  was  that  Menip- 
pus  who  had  to  do  with  the  lamia,  and  Dioscorides  the  Egyptian,  and 
Damis,  Apollonius  thus  addressed  them :  “I  will  not  speak  ill  of  those  who 
have  left  us,  but  rather  will  commend  you,  who  are  men  of  my  own  temper. 
Neither  will  I  censure  as  a  coward  any  of  those  who  have  turned  back  out 
of  fear  of  Nero;  but  each  of  you  who  have  overcome  this  fear  I  will  call 
a  philosopher,  and  I  will  teach  him  whatever  I  know.  First  of  all,  I  think 
that  we  should  offer  prayers  to  those  gods  through  whom  these  different 
courses  have  been  decided  on  by  us,  and  by  our  late  comrades.  I  think 
too  that  we  should  choose  those  gods  to  be  our  guides,  for  we  have  no  safe 
dependence  anywhere  but  on  the  gods.  We  are  about  to  go  to  that  city 
which  rules  so  much  of  the  earth,  and  how  is  it  possible  to  go  there  unless 


114 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


conducted  by  the  gods,  especially  when  so  savage  a  tyranny  is  established 
there  that  philosophers  are  not  permitted  to  live  ?  But  do  not  think  it  fool¬ 
hardy  for  us  to  take  the  road  up  to  Rome,  down  which  so  many  philoso¬ 
phers  are  fleeing.  In  the  first  place,  I  do  not  consider  anything  in  human 
experience  so  terrible  that  a  wise  man  need  be  afraid  of  it ;  and  secondly, 
I  would  not  propose  lessons  in  fortitude  which  could  be  studied  without 
danger.  Moreover,  though  I  have  traversed  more  of  the  earth’s  surface 
than  any  other  man  has  yet  done,  and  I  have  seen  very  many  beasts  of 
India  and  of  Arabia,  yet  as  to  this  beast,  which  is  commonly  called  a 
tyrant,  I  do  not  know  how  many  heads  it  has,  nor  whether  it  has  hooked 
claws  and  sharp  teeth.  It  is  said  to  be  of  urban  habits,  dwelling  in  the 
center  of  cities,  and  yet  to  be  more  savage  than  beasts  of  forest  and  fell 
in  this,  that  even  lions  and  tigers  when  petted  do  sometimes  grow  tame, 
and  change  their  natures,  but  the  tyrant  is  made  even  more  ferocious  by 
petting,  and  gulps  down  everything  within  reach.  No  other  beast  has 
ever  been  known  to  devour  its  mother,  but  Nero  is  sated  with  that  food. 
It  is  true  that  Orestes  and  Alcm^eon  did  the  same,  yet  they  found  some  ex¬ 
cuse  for  their  crime  in  their  fathers,  one  of  whom  had  been  murdered  by 
his  wife,  and  the  other  had  been  sold  for  a  necklace  by  his.  Through  his 
mother’s  exertions  this  Nero  was  adopted  by  the  old  emperor,  and  made 
heir  to  the  throne,  and  then  he  murdered  her  by  the  artificial  shipwreck  of 
a  vessel,  built  by  him  for  the  purpose,  in  which  she  was  killed  when  she 
had  almost  reached  the  shore.  Whoever  believes  that  Nero  is  to  be  feared 
for  such  actions,  and  deserts  philosophy  because  anything  opposed  to  such 
an  emperor’s  will  must  be  unsafe,  should  know  that  those  are  more  to  be 
feared  who  have  attained  to  wisdom  and  self-control ;  for  they  are  favored 
by  the  gods.  He  should  consider  tyrannical  actions  to  be  as  imbecile  as 
those  of  a  drunken  man,  whom  we  regard  as  idiotic  but  not  terrifying. 
Let  us  go  on  to  Rome,  then,  if  we  are  strong  of  heart,  for  to  Nero’s  edict 
forbidding  philosophy  we  may  oppose  the  saying  of  Sophocles :  'Zeus  has 
never  laid  these  commands  on  me,’  neither  have  the  Muses  nor  prophetic 
Apollo.  It  is  very  likely  that  Nero  himself  is  familiar  with  those  iambics, 
for  they  say  that  he  has  a  taste  for  tragedy.” 

If  that  passage  of  Homer  is  recalled  where  a  single  speech  so  unites 
the  warriors  that  they  all  become  one  helmet  and  one  shield,  it  will  be 
found  exemplified  in  these  disciples.  United  by  the  words  of  Apollonius, 
they  were  made  strong  enough  to  die  for  philosophy,  and  to  prove  them¬ 
selves  better  than  the  runaways. 

39. 

On  their  reaching  the  city  gate  the  guards  stationed  there  asked  no 
questions  of  them,  although  they  noticed  and  wondered  at  their  bearing,  for 


BOOK  FOUR 


115 


their  appearance  was  priestly  and  not  at  all  like  the  common  herd.  The 
party  seated  themselves  in  the  inn  nearest  the  gate,  and  were  refreshing 
themselves  with  food,  for  evening  had  set  in,  when  an  intoxicated  reveller 
came  in  who  had  a  voice  by  no  means  unpleasant.  His  business  was  to 
wander  about  through  Rome  singing  Nero’s  songs,  and  to  be  paid  for 
doing  so.  If  any  one  did  not  listen  attentively  to  his  singing,  or  did  not 
pay  the  regular  fee  for  listening,  this  singer  was  empowered  to  arrest  such 
an  offender  for  impiety.  He  had  a  lyre,  and  all  the  accessories  required  in 
playing  on  it,  and  he  was  also  carrying  in  a  little  casket  a  harpstring  worn 
with  playing,  which  had  once  been  stretched  on  a  lyre,  and  which  he  de¬ 
clared  had  been  taken  from  Nero’s  lyre  and  bought  by  himself  for  two 
minse,  and  that  he  himself  would  sell  it  to  no  one  but  a  first-rate  harpist, 
who  had  competed  at  the  Pythian  games.  After  the  usual  prefatory  patter, 
and  after  singing  a  short  hymn  of  Nero’s,  he  added  other  selections  from 
the  Orestia  and  from  the  Antigone,  and  from  various  other  tragedies  com¬ 
posed  by  the  emperor,  inflecting  his  metres  with  wanton  turns  and  twists 
like  Nero.  Thinking  them  to  be  careless  in  listening,  he  exclaimed  that 
Nero’s  majesty  had  been  violated  by  them,  and  that  they  were  enemies  of 
the  divine  voice.  Nevertheless  they  continued  to  pay  little  attention  to  him, 
and  when  Menippus  asked  Apollonius  how  he  was  affected  by  what  the 
man  had  said,  he  replied :  “About  as  much  as  I  was  by  his  singing !  How¬ 
ever,  Menippus,  let  us  not  lose  our  temper  over  such  things.  We  will  pay 
him  the  usual  fee  for  his  singing,  so  that  he  may  offer  sacrifice  to  Nero’s 
Muses.” 

40. 

They  heard  no  more  from  the  drunken  musician,  but  early  next  morn¬ 
ing  one  of  the  consuls.  Telesinus,  sent  for  Apollonius  and  asked:  “What 
kind  of  clothing  is  that  you  wear?”  “Pure  and  derived  from  no  mortal 
creature,”  he  answered.  The  consul  asked  :  “What  especial  knowledge  have 
you  ?”  and  Apollonius  answered :  “I  know  divination,  and  what  prayers 
and  what  sacrifices  should  be  offered  to  the  gods.”  “Is  there  anyone  who 
does  not  know  how  to  pray  and  to  sacrifice,  O  philosopher?”  asked  the 
consul.  “Many  do  not,”  replied  Apollonius,  “and  even  for  the  man  who 
knows  how  to  do  them  correctly,  it  is  an  advantage  to  be  assured  of  that 
fact  by  an  expert.”  Telesinus  happened  to  be  well  posted  in  theology,  and 
at  once  surmised  from  the  conversation  that  this  must  be  x4pollonius.  Re¬ 
calling  the  rumors  which  he  had  heard  concerning  him,  he  thought  it  best 
not  to  ask  his  name  in  public,  lest  he  might  prefer  to  keep  it  secret,  so  he 
turned  to  the  subject  of  theology,  which  he  was  very  well  qualified  to  dis¬ 
cuss,  and  asked  him  as  a  theologian :  “What  prayer  do  you  make  when 
you  approach  the  altars?”  Apollonius  replied:  “I  pray  that  justice  may 


116 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


prevail :  that  the  laws  be  not  transgressed ;  that  wise  men  may  be  kept 
poor,  and  that  everyone  else  may  be  rich  but  honest.”  Telesinus  asked: 
'‘Do  you  believe,  then,  when  you  ask  such  great  boons,  that  your  prayer 
will  be  granted?”  "By  Zeus,  yes,”  said  Apollonius.  "All  those  supplica¬ 
tions  are  included  in  one  prayer,  for  on  reaching  the  altars,  I  pray  thus : 
'O  ye  gods,  give  me  what  is  suitable  for  me !’  So,  if  I  am  a  good  man,  I 
shall  obtain  even  more  than  I  have  said,  but  if  the  gods  rate  me  among  the 
bad,  they  will  award  me  the  opposite;  nor  would  I  blame  them  if  they 
adjudged  me  deserving  of  evil,  when  I  myself  was  not  good.”  Telesinus 
was  impressed  by  hearing  these  sentiments,  and  wishing  to  show  his  good 
will  he  said :  "You  shall  have  access  to  all  the  temples  in  Rome,  and  I  will 
give  written  instructions  to  the  ministering  priests  to  receive  you  cordially, 
and  to  defer  to  you,  as  to  one  who  can  teach  them  more  than  they  know.” 
Apollonius  asked :  "Would  they  not  receive  me  cordially,  then,  without 
your  writing  to  them  to  do  so?”  "By  Zeus,  no!”  replied  the  consul,  "for 
that  is  my  function,  to  issue  such  permits.”  Apollonius  said:  "I  am  glad 
that  so  important  a  duty  is  in  the  hands  of  a  high-minded  man ;  but  I 
would  like  you  to  know  this  about  me.  I  prefer  to  sojourn  in  temples 
which  are  not  kept  sedulously  locked  away  from  the  people,  and  none  of 
the  gods  refuses  me  hospitality,  but  they  all  let  me  share  their  roof.  I 
would  like  to  enjoy  this  privilege  here,  which  even  barbarians  have  always 
allowed  me.”  Telesinus  replied :  "The  barbarians  are  in  advance  of  the 
Romans  in  earning  such  praise,  and  I  would  like  the  same  thing  to  be 
said  of  this  city.”  So  Apollonius  dwelt  in  the  temples,  changing  from  one 
to  another  at  intervals.  When  he  was  criticized  for  moving  about  so  he 
said :  "The  gods  themselves  do  not  abide  all  the  time  even  in  heaven,  for 
they  go  at  one  time  to  Ethiopia,  at  another  to  Olympus,  and  then  to  Mount 
Athos.  If  the  gods  visit  all  nations  of  men,  why  is  it  not  logical  for  men 
to  visit  all  the  gods?  If  masters  neglect  their  slaves  no  one  blames  them, 
for  it  may  be  that  they  think  them  not  worthy  of  their  attention ;  but  if 
slaves  are  not  attentive  to  their  masters  in  every  possible  way,  they  may 
expect  destruction  at  their  hands,  for  being  abominable  to  them  and  thralls 
accursed  by  the  gods.” 

41. 

While  Apollonius  discoursed  in  the  temples  the  attendance  of  wor¬ 
shippers  of  the  gods  increased  there  daily,  and  men  gathered  about  him, 
hoping  for  more  frequent  answers  to  prayer.  The  authorities  found  noth¬ 
ing  suspicious  in  his  dissertations,  because  they  were  delivered  in  public 
places,  and  spoken  openly  to  all  comers.  He  did  not  knock  at  the  doors  of 
the  powerful,  nor  court  their  favor ;  but  when  they  came  to  him  he  received 
them  courteously,  and  spoke  to  them  just  as  he  did  to  everyone  else. 


BOOK  FOUR 


117 


42. 

Demetrius,  who  had  shown  such  reverence  for  him  at  Corinth  as  I 
have  described,  came  to  Rome  about  this  time,  and  was  constantly  seen 
in  Apollonius’  company,  while  at  the  same  time  he  used  to  inveigh  openly 
against  Nero;  the  result  being  that  not  only  Demetrius  became  suspected 
by  the  authorities,  but  Apollonius  too  was  looked  upon  as  a  possible  insti¬ 
gator  of  his  attacks.  This  condition  of  things  was  aggravated  by 
Demetrius’  conduct  at  the  inauguration  of  a  gymnasium,  which  Nero 
admired  more  than  any  other  in  Rome.  On  that  occasion,  when  Nero,  with 
senators  and  knights,  was  celebrating  the  day  by  holding  a  feast  in  the 
gymnasium,  Demetrius  came  in  and  loudly  abused  all  users  of  baths,  for 
weakening  and  defiling  themselves  thereby,  and  he  declared  any  such  build¬ 
ing  to  be  a  foolish  waste  of  money.  All  that  saved  him  from  instant  death 
for  this  insult  was  the  fact  that  Nero  had  outdone  himself  that  day  in  the 
sweetness  of  his  singing,  which  he  was  exhibiting  in  the  tavern  forming 
part  of  the  gymnasium,  naked  except  for  a  loin  cloth,  like  the  lowest  of 
potboys.  For  all  that,  Demetrius  did  not  come  off  scot-free  for  his  speech, 
because  Tigellinus,  the  prefect  of  Nero’s  pretorian  guard,  banished  him 
from  Rome,  as  if  his  words  had  demolished  the  baths ;  and  moreover  he 
caused  Apollonius  to  be  shadowed,  in  the  hope  of  catching  him  too  in 
some  questionable  utterance  for  which  he  might  be  punished. 

43. 

Nevertheless  Apollonius  displayed  neither  contempt  nor  anxiety,  as 
most  men  do  who  try  to  escape  such  danger ;  but  he  continued  to  discuss 
his  subjects  thoroughly,  and  Telesinus  and  others  studied  philosophy 
with  him,  believing  it  to  be  quite  safe  under  such  a  master,  even  though 
philosophy  was  under  a  cloud.  Nevertheless  he  was  a  suspected  man, 
as  I  have  said,  and  the  more  so  because  of  a  remark  of  his  concerning 
a  portent.  It  thundered  during  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  is  unusual  in 
eclipses,  and  Apollonius  said,  gazing  at  the  sky :  '‘A  great  event  is  about 
to  happen,  but  it  will  not  happen.”  His  hearers  did  not  understand  the 
saying,  but  it  was  clear  enough  three  days  later,  when  lightning  struck  the 
table  at  which  Nero  was  reclining  at  supper,  and  passed  through  the 
chalice  which  he  held  in  his  hands,  not  far  from  his  mouth.  This  lightning- 
stroke,  which  came  so  near  without  hitting,  was  the  great  event  which 
he  said  would  happen  and  not  happen.  Tigellinus,  when  he  heard  of  this 
prediction,  began  to  stand  in  awe  of  the  Master,  as  of  one  who  knew  the 
counsels  of  the  gods,  and  he  decided  not  to  arrest  him,  for  fear  of  some 
mysterious  visitation  on  himself,  but  he  continued  his  espionage  with  all 
the  eyes  which  government  employs,  whether  he  was  speaking  or  silent. 


118 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


sitting  or  walking,  and  was  constantly  informed  what  he  ate  and  with 
whom,  and  whether  he  sacrificed  or  not. 

44. 

When  that  disease  which  physicians  call  influenza  became  epidemic  in 
Rome,  which  induces  coughing  and  chokes  the  voice  in  speaking,  crowds 
of  suppliants  thronged  the  temples  because  Nero’s  throat  too  was  in¬ 
flamed,  and  he  had  become  hoarse.  This  popular  frenzy  interfered  with 
Apollonius’  usual  habits,  but  he  made  no  complaint,  and  when  Menippus 
showed  irritation  over  it,  he  counselled  modejLation,  and  mollified  him  by 
asking  him  to  excuse  the  gods  for  enjoying  comedians.  On  this  being  re^ 
ported  to  Tigellinus,  he  had  Apollonius  brought  before  the  praetor’s  court 
to  answer  to  the  charge  of  impiety  toward  Nero.  A  prosecutor  was  em¬ 
ployed  against  him,  who  had  already  been  the  ruin  of  many  such  offenders, 
and  had  great  skill  in  that  sort  of  Olympic  games.  He  held  in  his  hand  the 
scroll  on  which  the  charge  was  written,  and  shaking  it  at  Apollonius  as  if 
it  were  a  sword,  he  shouted  that  it  was  a  sharp  weapon  which  would  de¬ 
stroy  him;  but  when  Tigellinus  unrolled  it  he  found  the  parchment  utterly 
blank,  with  no  trace  of  writing  on  it,  which  made  him  think  Apollonius 
supernatural.  Domitian  is  also  said  to  have  had  the  same  opinion  of  him 
afterward.  Tigellinus  ordered  Apollonius  to  be  removed  to  a  more  private 
room  of  the  pretorium,  in  which  that  magistrate  hears  the  most  important 
cases  in  secret  session ;  and  when  they  were  quite  by  themselves  there  he 
insisted  upon  knowing  all  about  him.  Apollonius  named  his  father  and  his 
birthplace ;  and  when  asked  why  he  practiced  philosophy,  he  said  that  he 
followed  it  in  order  to  know  the  gods,  and  to  understand  human  nature ; 
for  it  was  harder  to  know  some  one  else  than  to  know  himself.  The  prefect 
then  asked :  “How  do  you  unmask  demons  and  phantoms  ?”  and  he 
answered :  “Exactly  as  I  do  murderers  and  persons  guilty  of  sacrilege.” 
By  which  epithets  he  was  reflecting  on  Tigellinus,  who  was  Nero’s 
prompter  to  every  cruelty  and  excess.  The  prefect  asked :  “Will  you 
prophesy  for  me  if  I  ask  you?”  “How  should  I,  since  I  am  not  a  prophet?” 
replied  Apollonius.  “And  yet  they  tell  me  that  you  are  the  man  who 
foretold  that  a  great  event  would  happen  and  would  not  happen,”  said  the 
prefect.  Apollonius  replied :  “Your  information  is  correct,  but  you  should 
not  attribute  that  remark  to  prophecy,  but  to  the  knowledge  which  God 
imparts  to  wise  men.”  “Why  do  you  not  fear  Nero?”  asked  the  prefect, 
and  Apollonius  answered:  “Because  the  same  God  who  made  him  ter¬ 
rible  has  also  made  me  intrepid.”  “What  is  your  opinion  of  Nero?”  the 
prefect  then  asked,  and  Apollonius  answered :  “Better  than  yours,  for  you 
prize  his  singing,  and  I  his  silence.”  Staggered  by  these  replies,  Tigellinus 
said :  “You  may  go  at  liberty,  on  giving  bail  to  appear  when  called  for.” 


BOOK  FOUR 


119 


Apollonius  answered :  “Who  will  give  bail  for  a  body  which  none  will 
imprison?”  These  words  seemed  superhuman  and  godlike  to  Tigellinus, 
and  fearing  to  provoke  a  contest  with  the  gods,  he  cried :  “Go  where  you 
like !  You  are  too  strong  to  be  controlled  by  me.” 

45. 

Apollonius  also  wrought  this  miracle  at  Rome:  A  marriageable 
maiden  had  died,  to  all  appearance,  and  her  betrothed  was  following  her 
bier,  lamenting  their  uncompleted  nuptials,  as  is  the  custom,  and  all  the 
city  was  mourning  with  him,  for  the  girl  was  of  consular  family.  Apol¬ 
lonius  happening  upon  this  mournful  sight,  said :  “Set  down  the  bier,  and 
I  will  put  an  end  to  your  tears  for  the  maiden  !”  He  asked  at  the  same  time 
what  her  name  was,  and  many  supposed  that  he  intended  to  deliver  the 
customary  funeral  oration,  in  order  to  increase  their  grief ;  but  by  merely 
touching  the  body,  and  murmuring  a  few  words  over  her,  he  woke  the  girl 
from  her  seeming  death,  and  she  found  her  voice  at  once,  and  returned  to 
her  father’s  house,  like  Alcestis  when  called  back  to  life  by  Hercules.  Her 
family  offered  him  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  denarii,  but  he  told 
them  that  he  presented  it  to  the  maiden  as  her  dowry.  Now  whether  he  had 
discerned  in  her  a  spark  of  life  which  had  been  hidden  from  her  physicians 
(for  Zeus  is  said  to  have  sent  a  shower  of  rain  which  was  steaming  from 
her  upturned  face),  or  whether  he  actually  called  back  and  rekindled  her 
departed  spirit,  is  hard  to  decide,  not  only  for  me,  but  for  those  who  were 
present  at  the  time. 

46. 

During  that  same  period  the  philosopher  Musonius  was  suffering  im¬ 
prisonment  by  Nero.  He  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  advanced 
thinkers  in  philosophy,  but  Apollonius  held  no  direct  communication  with 
him  because  Musonius  had  opposed  it,  to  avoid  danger  to  both  of  them. 
Still  they  corresponded  by  letter,  through  Menippus  and  Damis,  who  used 
to  visit  the  prisoner.  Omitting  letters  which  they  exchanged  on  unimpor¬ 
tant  subjects,  I  will  quote  some  weightier  ones  which  may  prove  of  interest : 

“Apollonius  to  the  philosopher  Musonius ;  greeting : 

“I  wish  I  might  visit  you,  and  share  your  cell  and  your  conversation, 
if  I  could  be  of  any  service  to  you.  Unless  you  doubt  that  Hercules  brought 
Theseus  back  from  Hades,  write  what  you  would  like.  Farewell.” 

“Musonius  to  the  philosopher  Apollonius ;  greeting : 

“The  credit  of  your  good  intentions  will  remain ;  but  a  man  will  have 
pleaded  his  own  cause,  and  will  have  proved  himself  innocent  of  any  crime. 
Farewell.” 


120 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


“Apollonius  to  the  philosopher  Musonius;  greeting: 

“After  Socrates  the  Athenian  had  declined  to  be  rescued  from  prison 
by  his  friends,  he  was  tried  and  put  to  death.  Farewell.” 

“Musonius  to  Apollonius  the  philosopher;  greeting: 

“Socrates  died  because  he  had  not  prepared  his  defense ;  but  I  will 
defend  myself.  Farewell.” 

47. 

Nero  departed  for  Greece,  after  publishing  an  edict  that  no  philoso¬ 
pher  should  be  permitted  to  teach  in  Rome ;  so  Apollonius  turned  his  steps 
toward  those  western  regions  of  the  world  which  are  said  to  be  bounded  by 
the  Pillars  of  Hercules,  where  he  might  see  Cadiz,  and  the  tides  of  the 
ocean.  He  had  also  heard  something  of  the  philosophy  of  the  men  living 
there,  how  they  had  made  great  progress  in  theological  studies,  and  all  his 
disciples  went  with  him,  delighted  with  the  journey  and  with  the  man. 


BOOK  FIVE 


121 


BOOK  FIVE. 

Cadiz  and  vicinity  —  Sails  for  Sicily  —  Lilyb^um  —  Syracuse^ 
Catana  and  Mount  ^tna — Sails  again  to  Corinth — Athens — • 
Rhodes — Alexandria — Consulted  there  by  Vespasian — Dissen¬ 
sions  WITH  Euphrates — Travels  through  Egypt  to  Ethiopia 
TO  VISIT  Gymnosophists. 

1. 

Leaving  out  fable,  I  will  set  down  what  most  deserves  to  be  heard 
and  told  concerning  the  pillars  which  Hercules  is  said  to  have  placed  at 
the  limits  of  the  world.  The  extreme  capes  of  Europe  and  of  Africa  wall 
in  a  strait  sixty  stadia  in  width,  which  lets  in  the  ocean  to  the  inner  sea. 
The  African  cape  is  named  Abinna,  and  lions  seek  their  prey  about  the 
peaks  of  mountains  further  inland  which  are  visible  above  it,  while  the 
cape  itself  is  the  boundary  between  the  Getulians  and  the  Tingi,  two  sav¬ 
age  tribes  of  Africa.  In  sailing  toward  the  ocean  this  cape  extends  for 
nine  hundred  stadia  to  the  mouth  of  the  Salex  river,  and  it  is  hard  tO'  say 
how  much  further  it  goes,  for  the  land  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  is 
an  uninhabited  desert.  The  European  cape,  which  is  named  Calpis,  is  on 
the  right  hand  side  in  sailing  toward  the  ocean,  and  is  six  hundred  stadia 
in  length,  terminating  at  the  ancient  city  of  Cadiz. 

2. 

The  ocean-tides  I  myself  have  observed  in  the  land  of  the  Celts  quite  as 
they  are  described,  and  I  have  compared  various  theories  to  explain  why  so 
prodigious  a  body  of  water  ebbs  and  flows ;  but  I  believe  that  Apollonius 
discovered  the  true  cause.  In  a  letter  to  the  Indian  Sages  he  says  that  when 
the  tide  rises  the  ocean  is  being  forced  up  by  winds,  which  blow  into  it 
under  water  through  many  apertures  in  its  bottom  and  sides,  and  that  it 
lowers  again  when  the  wind  is  drawn  back,  as  in  breathing.  This 
hypothesis  seems  to  be  confirmed  by  the  sick,  near  Cadiz  at  least,  for  the 
souls  of  the  dying  do  not  leave  their  bodies  while  the  tide  is  rising,  which 
would  not  be  the  case  unless  the  air  were  being  drawn  toward  the  earth. 
The  various  changes  of  the  moon,  into  new,  full  and  waning,  I  have  noted 
in  the  ocean  tides,  for  they  wax  and  wane  according  to  the  lunar  phases. 

3. 

Among  the  Celts  day  changes  to  night  and  night  to  day  by  slow  grada¬ 
tion  between  light  and  darkness,  as  it  does  here,  but  near  Cadiz  and  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules  day  or  night  is  said  to  break  upon  the  sight  with  the 


122 


APOLLONIUS  OB^  TYANA 


suddenness  of  a  lightning  flash.  The  Islands  of  the  Blessed  are  supposed 
to  lie  at  the  furthest  point  of  Africa,  opposite  the  uninhabited  part  of  Cape 
Abinna. 

4. 

Cadiz  is  set  at  the  far  edge  of  Europe.  The  people  there  are  greatly 
given  to  religious  observances,  for  they  have  even  erected  an  altar  to  old 
age,  and  they  are  the  only  men  who  sing  triumphant  pseans  to  Death. 
They  have  other  altars  besides,  to  Poverty,  and  to  Skill,  and  to  the  Egyp¬ 
tian  Hercules,  and  some  to  the  Theban  Hercules.  Their  tradition  is  that 
the  Egyptian  Hercules  got  no  further  than  Erytheia  when  he  captured 
Geryon  and  his  oxen ;  but  that  the  Theban  Hercules  was  eager  in  searching 
for  knowledge,  and  explored  all  the  world  to  its  outer  limits.  Damis  says 
that  the  men  of  Cadiz  are  of  Greek  origin,  with  similar  education  to  ours, 
and  that  of  all  the  Greeks  they  hold  the  Athenians  in  highest  esteem,  and 
they  offer  sacrifices  to  the  Athenian  Menestheus.  Believing  Themistocles, 
the  winner  of  the  naval  battle,  to  have  been  greatly  distinguished  for  wis¬ 
dom  and  valor,  they  have  set  up  a  bronze  statue  which  represents  him  as 
pondering  upon  the  response  of  the  oracle. 

5. 

Damis  says  that  they  saw  two  trees  there,  having  an  appearance  half¬ 
way  between  a  pine  tree  and  a  stone-pine,  which  are  the  only  specimens  of 
their  kind  in  the  world.  They  are  growing  from  the  grave  where  Geryon 
was  buried,  whence  they  are  called  Geryoneas.  They  exude  blood  from 
their  bark,  as  the  sun-poplar  does  gold.  The  island  on  which  the  temple  of 
Hercules  stands  is  no  larger  than  the  temple  itself,  and  has  no  rocky  projec¬ 
tions,  so  that  it  looks  like  a  polished  base  of  the  building.  Damis  says  that 
both  of  the  Hercules  are  worshipped  in  the  same  temple,  but  it  contains  no 
statue  of  either;  only  two  perfectly  plain  bronze  altars  dedicated  to  the 
Egyptian ;  and  a  stone  altar  to  the  Theban,  on  which  are  carved  the  hydra, 
and  the  mares  of  Diomede,  and  the  twelve  labors  of  Hercules.  Damis 
says  that  the  golden  olive  tree  wrought  by  Pygmalion,  which  is  also  set  up 
in  this  temple,  is  truly  admirable  for  the  skilful  workmanship  of  its  foliage, 
and  still  more  of  its  fruit,  which  is  set  thick  with  emeralds.  He  says  that 
a  golden  belt  of  Telamonian  Teucer  is  also  shown  there,  though  how  and 
why  Teucer  should  have  voyaged  to  that  ocean  Damis  did  not  know  and 
could  not  ascertain.  In  the  temple  they  also  found  pillars  squared  like 
anvils,  more  than  a  cubit  high,  made  of  an  alloy  of  gold  and  silver  blended 
to  a  uniform  color,  and  having  their  capitals  engraved  with  characters 
neither  Indian  nor  Egyptian  which  seemed  undecipherable.  The  priests 
admitted  that  they  could  make  nothing  of  them,  but  Apollonius  said :  “The 
Egyptian  Hercules  does  not  allow  me  to  withhold  my  knowledge.  These 


BOOK  FIVE 


123 


pillars  rivet  together  the  land  and  the  sea.  Hercules  inscribed  them  with 
this  charm  in  the  abode  of  the  Fates,  so  that  no  strife  shall  ever  arise  be¬ 
tween  those  elements,  and  they  shall  never  hold  lightly  the  friendship 
which  they  entertain  for  each  other.” 

6. 

He  says  further  that  they  sailed  up  the  Bsetis  river,  which  illustrates 
very  well  the  action  of  the  tide,  for  when  it  rises  the  river  flows  backward 
toward  its  source,  as  if  a  wind  were  driving  it  up  from  the  ocean.  He  says 
that  the  Baetis  district,  from  which  the  river  takes  its  name,  is  one  of 
the  very  finest  of  regions,  rich  in  towns  and  in  pasture  lands,  and  that 
water  is  conducted  from  the  river  to  each  town,  and  that  all  kinds  of 
crops  grow  luxuriantly  in  the  region,  which  enjoys  a  mild  climate  like 
that  of  Athens  in  the  autumn  at  the  time  of  the  Mysteries. 

7. 

He  also  says  that  Apollonius  had  many  conversations  about  things 
they  saw  there,  of  which  the  following  should  be  recorded.  Once  when 
they  were  sitting  in  the  temple  of  Hercules  Menippus,  referring  to  Nero, 
said  laughingly :  “What  are  we  to  think  of  that  gentleman’s  chances  at  the 
Greek  games?  What  prizes  has  he  carried  off  at  them?  Have  not  the 
highly  cultivated  Hellenes  roared  with  laughter  in  going  to  those  assem¬ 
blies?”  To  which  Apollonius  replied:  “I  hear  from  Telesinus  that  our 
good  Nero  stands  greatly  in  awe  of  the  lash  of  the  Elean  judges ;  and  that 
when  his  toadies  urged  him  to  give  orders  beforehand  that  any  victory  he 
might  win  at  the  Olympic  games  should  be  proclaimed  triumphantly  in 
Rome  by  the  public  crier,  he  said :  What  would  be  all  right,  if  only  the 
Eleans  would  not  be  prejudiced  by  it,  for  they  are  said  to  scourge  any 
ostentation,  and  to  have  a  higher  opinion  of  their  own  function  than  they 
have  of  me !’  and  he  went  on  to  say  other  things  much  more  foolish  than 
that.  I  assure  you  that  Nero  will  win  prizes  at  Olympia,  for  who  would 
dare  to  vote  against  him?  Fortunately  he  will  not  win  prizes  at  the  real 
Olympic  games,  for  they  are  not  being  held  at  the  regular  time.  They 
should  have  been  held  last  year,  according  to  unbroken  rules,  but  Nero 
ordered  the  Eleans  to  postpone  them  until  he  might  come,  as  if  they  were 
celebrating  those  rites  in  honor  of  himself,  instead  of  Zeus.  And  what  do 
you  think  of  his  commanding  them  to  hold  a  competition  in  acting,  and  in 
lyre-playing,  when  they  have  no  theatre  or  stage  suitable  for  such  purposes, 
only  a  stadium  hollowed  out  by  nature  and  entirely  open  to  the  sky  ?  And 
that  he  is  ambitious  of  a  prize  for  things  which  he  ought  to  hide,  laying 
aside  the  dignity  of  an  Augustus  or  a  Caesar,  to  assume  the  costume  of 
Amoebeus  or  of  Terpnus?  And  that  he  is  so  solicitous  of  acting  the  part 
of  Creon  or  of  Qidipus  without  a  flaw,  that  he  is  worried  lest  he  may  for- 


124 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


get  and  take  the  wrong  door,  or  that  his  robe  or  his  sceptre  may  not  be 
just  right?  And  that  he  is  so  unmindful  of  Rome’s  honor,  and  of  his  own, 
that  instead  of  enacting  laws  he  sings  songs  and  begs  for  applause  outside 
his  palace  gates,  when  he  should  be  within  them,  sitting  on  his  imperial 
throne  and  holding  sway  over  land  and  sea?  The  tragedians,  among  whom 
he  now  enrolls  himself,  are  a  numerous  company,  Menippus.  What  if  one 
of  them,  after  acting  QEnomaus  or  Cresphontes,  should  be  so  carried  away 
by  his  part  that  when  he  had  left  the  stage  he  attempted  to  order  people 
about,  and  fancied  himself  really  a  king ;  what  would  you  think  of  his  state 
of  mind?  Would  you  not  say  that  he  needed  hellebore  and  every  other 
kind  of  medicine  to  restore  his  sanity?  And  when  the  emperor  degrades 
himself  into  a  singer,  and  acts  the  actor,  smoothing  his  voice,  trembling 
before  some  Elean  or  Delphian,  and  yet  so  bad  a  tragedian  that  he  is 
afraid  of  being  hissed  by  his  own  subjects,  what  have  you  to  say  of  the 
calamity  of  being  ruled  by  such  a  disgrace  to  mankind?  As  a  Greek, 
Menippus,  which  sovereign  would  you  prefer,  Xerxes  the  destroyer,  or 
Nero  the  singer?  You  will  see  how  many  Iliads  of  woes  oppress  the 
Greeks,  if  you  reckon  up  how  much  they  are  spending  for  his  songs ;  and 
how,  in  spite  of  all  that,  they  are  thrust  out  of  their  own  houses,  and  are 
not  allowed  to  own  anything  of  beauty,  either  vase  or  slave;  and  what 
wrongs  they  suffer  in  their  wives  and  children  from  Nero’s  quest  of  vile 
pleasures  in  every  family ;  and  if  there  were  nothing  else,  how  many  men 
will  be  jailed  because  of  his  acting  and  his  singing,  on  such  charges  as: 
‘You  did  not  come  to  hear  Nero!’  or  ‘if  you  did  come,  you  listened  indif¬ 
ferently,’  or  ‘you  laughed,’  or  ‘you  did  not  applaud,’  or  ‘you  have  not 
offered  sacrifices  for  his  voice,  so  that  it  may  be  clearer  at  Delphi !’  I  fore¬ 
saw  some  time  ago,  by  divine  inspiration,  that  the  Isthmus  would  be  pierced, 
or  rather  would  not  be  pierced,  and  I  hear  that  they  are  digging  there 
now.”  Damis  replied :  “It  seems  to  me,  Apollonius,  that  this  conception 
of  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus  far  surpasses  everything  else  that  Nero  has 
achieved,  for  you  know  what  a  great  undertaking  it  is.”  “It  seems  so  to 
me  too,  Damis,”  said  Apollonius,  “but  since  he  never  will  accomplish  it,  he 
will  be  discredited  as  both  a  bad  singer  and  a  bad  digger.  Comparing  the 
deeds  of  Xerxes  with  his,  I  prefer  Xerxes,  not  because  he  built  a  bridge 
across  the  Hellespont,  but  because  he  actually  crossed  on  it;  whereas  Nero 
I  see  will  never  sail  through  the  Isthmus,  nor  complete  his  canal.  Unless 
truth  itself  has  perished,  it  is  impressed  on  me  that  he  has  fled  from  Greece 
full  of  panic.” 

8. 

Thereafter,  when  a  post-runner  came  to  Cadiz,  to  order  sacrifices  to 
be  offered  in  honor  of  the  good  news  of  the  threefold  victory  which  had 
been  won  by  Nero  at  Olympia,  the  people  there  understood  that  the 


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emperor  had  succeeded  in  some  sort  of  notable  contest  in  Arcadia,  because, 
as  I  have  said,  their  ambition  is  to  imitate  Greek  culture ;  but  none  of  the 
other  cities  around  Cadiz  had  any  notion  what  the  Olympic  games  were, 
nor  what  a  contest  or  a  game  might  be,  nor  why  they  were  to  offer  sacri¬ 
fices  ;  so  they  fell  into  absurd  errors,  supposing  this  famous  victory  to  have 
been  gained  in  war,  and  that  Nero  had  captured  a  tribe  called  Olympians; 
for  none  of  them  had  ever  been  present  at  a  tragedy  or  a  lyre-playing. 

9. 

Damis  tells  the  story  how  the  townsmen  of  Hispala  in  Boetica  were 
frightened  by  a  tragic  actor,  which  is  worth  repeating.  While  the  towns 
were  rivalling  each  other  in  offering  sacrifices  in  honor  of  Nero’s  victories, 
for  the  addition  of  the  Pythian  prizes  had  been  announced  in  the  mean¬ 
time,  one  of  those  tragedians  who  had  not  dared  to  compete  with  Nero 
came  to  these  western  cities  to  earn  money,  and  he  acquired  quite  a  reputa¬ 
tion  for  his  acting  among  the  most  civilized  of  them,  partly  because  his 
audiences  had  never  seen  a  tragedy  before,  and  partly  because  he  assured 
them  that  he  was  imitating  Nero’s  singing  exactly.  When  he  came  to 
Hispala  he  seemed  alarming  to  the  audience  while  he  merely  stood  silent 
on  the  stage,  but  when  they  saw  him  striding  about  on  his  high  clogs, 
wearing  a  gaping  mask,  and  wrapped  in  a  portentous  cloak,  many  of  them 
were  thoroughly  scared  at  the  sight ;  and  then,  when  he  began  to  shout  at 
the  top  of  his  lungs,  nearly  all  of  them  actually  ran  away,  as  if  some  demon 
had  yelled  at  them.  Such,  and  so  primitive,  are  the  ways  of  the  barbarians 
who  live  there. 

10. 

When  the  prefect  of  the  Boetic  province  asked  leave  to  visit  Apol¬ 
lonius,  the  Master  told  him  that  such  intimacy  would  have  no  charm 
for  one  who  was  not  devoted  to  philosophy.  As  he  persisted  in  his 
request,  and  was  said  to  be  a  good  man  and  alienated  by  Nero’s  play¬ 
acting,  Apollonius  wrote  to  him  to  invite  him  to  come  to  Cadiz.  He  laid 
aside  all  his  official  pomp  at  once,  and  came  with  a  few  of  his  closest 
friends.  No  one  knew  what  Apollonius  and  he  said  to  each  other  in  pri¬ 
vate,  after  exchanging  salutations;  but  Damis  suspects  that  they  were 
conspiring  against  Nero,  for  after  holding  confidential  interviews  with 
him  for  three  days  the  prefect  embraced  Apollonius  and  went  away,  and 
Apollonius  called  after  him:  “Farewell,  and  remember  Vindex !”  What 
did  he  mean  by  that?  Vindex,  who  is  said  to  have  stirred  up  the  western 
peoples  against  Nero  while  he  was  singing  in  Greece,  was  a  man  ready  and 
able  to  snap  the  harpstrings  which  Nero  was  foolishly  twanging;  for  he 
delivered  against  him  a  harangue  to  the  army  commanded  by  him,  which 
seemed  drawn  from  the  purest  well  of  philosophy  to  attack  the  tyrant.  In 


126 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


it  he  said  that  Nero  was  nothing  of  a  singer,  and  yet  was  a  better  singer 
than  he  was  an  emperor.  He  described  his  folly,  his  greed,  his  brutality, 
all  his  depraved  indulgences,  but  the  most  blood-thirsty  crime  of  all  he 
refused  to  condemn,  for  he  said  that  Nero’s  murder  of  his  mother  was  only 
just  retribution  for  her  giving  birth  to  such  a  son.  Now  Apollonius,  fore¬ 
seeing  the  delivery  of  this  harangue,  associated  with  Vindex  this  prefect  of 
the  adjacent  province,  almost  taking  up  arms  himself  for  Rome. 

11. 

While  disaffection  was  thus  swelling  in  the  west,  Apollonius  turned 
his  course  thence  to  the  Tyrrhenian  sea  and  to  Africa.  Having  travelled 
part  of  the  way  on  foot  and  part  by  ship,  he  landed  in  Sicily  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood  of  Lilybseum.  During  the  journey  from  that  point  to  Messina, 
and  to  the  strait  where  the  meeting  of  the  Tyrrhenian  sea  with  the  Adriatic 
creates  the  perilous  Charybdis,  Damis  says  that  they  heard  that  Nero  had 
fled  from  Rome,  that  Vindex  was  dead,  and  that  several  rivals  were 
claiming  the  empire,  some  of  whom  were  Roman-born,  and  others  of 
various  nationalities.  When  his  companions  asked  Apollonius  what  would 
be  the  result,  and  whose  prize  the  empire  would  finally  be,  Apollonius 
replied:  '‘Of  many  Thebans!”  drawing  a  parallel  between  the  power 
which  was  to  be  briefly  held  by  Vitellius,  and  Galba,  and  Otho,  and  the 
rule  of  those  Thebans  who  maintained  sovereignty  for  a  short  time  over 
the  affairs  of  Greece. 

12. 

It  is  plain  from  what  has  already  been  said  that  Apollonius  foresaw 
such  things  by  divine  inspiration,  and  that  those  who  consider  him  a 
sorcerer  are  mistaken;  and  there  is  this  further  distinction  to  be  made. 
Sorcerers,  whom  I  rate  as  the  most  ill-starred  of  men,  boast  that  they  can 
alter  the  decrees  of  fate  by  torturing  wax-figures,  or  by  weird  sacrifices,  or 
by  enchantments,  or  magic  ointments,  and  many  have  professed  to  have 
such  powers  even  when  they  were  being  tried  for  such  offenses.  But 
Apollonius  acquiesced  in  what  the  Fates  had  ordained,  and  he  predicted 
those  events  as  inevitable;  nor  did  he  predict  them  by  means  of  charms, 
but  through  the  revelations  of  the  gods.  When  he  saw  among  the  Indian 
Sages  the  tripods  and  wine-bearers  and  other  automatically-moving  con¬ 
trivances  which  I  have  described,  he  did  not  ask  how  they  were  con¬ 
structed,  or  show  any  curiosity  about  them ;  and  although  he  expressed 
admiration,  he  had  no  wish  to  copy  them. 

13. 

Shortly  before  their  arrival  at  Syracuse  a  woman  of  no  mean  par¬ 
entage  had  given  birth  there  to  a  monstrosity  such  as  had  never  yet  been 


/ 


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born,  a  child  having  one  body  and  three  heads,  each  set  upon  its  own  neck. 
Some  thick-witted  interpreters  of  the  prodigy  maintained  that  all  Sicily, 
which  is  three-cornered  (Trinacria),  would  perish,  unless  it  should  achieve 
union  and  harmony;  for  many  Sicilian  cities  were  quarreling  with  each 
other,  and  within  themselves,  and  orderly  life  had  deserted  the  island. 
Others  said  that  this  birth  was  the  many-headed  Typhon,  threatening  the 
overturning  of  Sicily.  Apollonius  sent  Damis  to  verify  the  fact,  as  the 
child  was  on  public  exhibition  and  open  to  inspection  of  any  who  might 
explain  the  portent;  and  when  Damis  reported  that  it  really  was  a  three¬ 
headed  boy,  Apollonius  called  his  companions  together  and  told  them: 
“This  birth  signifies  those  three  emperors  of  Rome  whom  I  called  Thebans 
the  other  day.  None  of  them  will  possess  the  entire  empire,  but  after  seiz¬ 
ing  the  throne  two  of  them  will  perish  in  Rome  itself,  and  the  other  at  the 
frontier  of  Roman  territory,  changing  their  roles  more  rapidly  than  actors 
of  tyrants’  parts  do  on  the  stage.”  This  prophecy  soon  had  its  fulfilment, 
for  Galba  was  slain  in  the  city  while  trying  for  the  throne ;  Vitellius  died 
there  too  in  a  vain  dream  of  empire,  and  Otho,  perishing  among  the  western 
Gauls,  did  not  even  obtain  honorable  burial,  but  lies  in  an  unmarked  grave  ; 
and  all  these  changes  were  effected  by  Fate  within  the  year. 

14. 

From  Syracuse  they  went  to  Catana  near  Mount  ^tna,  and  Damis 
says  that  they  were  told  by  the  Catanians  that  they  believed  Typhon  to  be 
chained  in  the  mountain,  and  that  the  flames  come  from  him  which  light 
up  ^tna.  The  party  however  reached  a  more  probable  opinion,  and  one 
more  worthy  of  philosophers,  to  which  they  were  led  by  Apollonius.  Fie 
asked  them:  “Is  there  any  truth  in  mythology?”  Menippus  replied: 
“The  poets  certainly  endorse  it.”  Apollonius  asked:  “What  is  your  opinion 
of  ^sop?”  They  replied:  “That  he  is  nothing  but  a  maker  of  myths 
and  a  story-teller.”  “Are  there  any  well-constructed  fables?”  asked  Apol¬ 
lonius,  and  they  replied :  “Yes,  the  fables  told  by  poets,  who  tell  them  as 
if  they  really  had  occurred.”  “How  about  ^sop’s  fables?”  asked  Apol¬ 
lonius.  “They  are  all  about  frogs  and  asses,  and  nonsense  such  as  delights 
children  and  old  women,”  they  answered.  “And  yet,”  said  Apollonius, 
“^sop’s  fables  seem  to  me  to  be  the  wiser ;  for  those  fables  about  heroes, 
upon  which  all  poetry  is  based,  actually  demoralize  their  hearers,  because 
poets  describe  unnatural  passions,  and  marriages  of  brothers  with  sisters, 
and  quarrels  between  gods,  and  children  eaten,  and  disgraceful  tricks  and 
squabbles ;  so  that  by  representing  these  things  as  true  they  incite  anyone 
who  is  amorous  or  jealous  or  ambitious  to  follow  the  example  of  their 
fables,  ^sop  showed  his  wisdom  in  the  first  place  by  cutting  loose  from 
the  crowd  of  singers  of  such  things,  and  choosing  his  own  road;  and 


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APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


secondly,  like  those  who  entertain  their  guests  well  on  simple  fare,  he 
makes  use  of  lowly  objects  to  inculcate  lofty  lessons,  and  when  he  has  told 
his  story  he  adds  the  moral,  ‘this  ought  to  be  done,’  or  ‘this  ought  not  to 
be  done and  lastly  he  has  a  higher  regard  for  truth  than  the  poets  have, 
for  they  strive  to  make  their  fables  plausible,  but  he  tells  a  story  which 
everyone  knows  not«to  be  true,  and  by  this  very  fact  that  he  is  not  telling 
what  is  true  he  attains  truth.  A  poet  in  telling  his  fable,  leaves  it  to  the 
intelligence  of  his  hearers  to  find  out  whether  it  is  true  or  not;  but  anyone 
who  adds  a  moral  after  telling  a  fictitious  story,  as  ^sop  used  to  do, 
acknowledges  that  he  has  made  up  his  story  to  benefit  his  hearers.  Another 
point  in  his  favor  is  that  he  describes  brute  beasts  as  gentler  and  more 
deserving  of  attention  than  we  would  otherwise  think  them  to  be,  and 
through  familiarity  with  these  fables,  on  which  we  are  brought  up  from 
childhood,  we  form  mental  impressions  of  each  kind  of  animal ;  how  one 
is  of  kingly  nature,  and  another  is  foolish,  and  another  is  sly,  and  another 
is  honest.  After  a  poet  has  said  ‘Fate  is  varied  and  complex,’  or  has  cut 
some  such  caper,  he  leaves  the  stage;  but  ^sop,  by  adding  to  his  fable  an 
oracular  moral,  sends  away  his  audience  converted  to  his  proposition.” 

15. 

“While  I  was  still  quite  a  little  boy,  Menippus,  my  mother  told  me  a 
fable  about  vEsop’s  wisdom.  She  said  that  he  was  once  a  shepherd  who 
pastured  his  flock  near  a  temple  of  Mercury,  and  that  he  earnestly  prayed 
there  to  be  endowed  with  wisdom.  Many  others  came  to  Mercury  to  ask 
for  the  same  gift,  and  offered  for  it  gold,  or  silver,  or  an  ivory  wand  or 
some  other  precious  thing,  ^sop  was  too  poor  to  have  any  of  those  things, 
and  he  was  sparing  even  of  what  he  had,  so  he  would  offer  a  libation  of 
the  milk  of  one  sheep,  or  would  lay  a  handful  of  honeycomb  upon  the  altar, 
and  he  thought  that  a  nosegay  of  myrtle  and  roses  and  violets  might  be 
laid  there  too,  for  he  said :  ‘Why,  O  Mercury,  should  I  neglect  my  flock  to 
weave  garlands  ?’  All  the  suppliants  having  met  on  the  day  appointed  for 
the  distribution  of  wisdom.  Mercury,  as  the  dispenser  of  knowledge  and 
wealth,  said  to  one  of  them,  ‘you  take  philosophy ;’  and  to  the  one  who  had 
offered  most  he  said,  ‘you  shall  sit  with  orators ;’  and  to  the  next  in  liber¬ 
ality  he  said,  ‘I  give  you  the  province  of  astronomy;’  and  to  another, 
‘you  shall  be  a  musician ;’  and  to  another,  ‘you  a  poet  of  heroic  epics ;’  and 
to  another,  ‘you  an  iambic  poet and  when,  notwithstanding  his  matchless 
cleverness,  he  had  unwittingly  disposed  of  every  branch  of  wisdom  before 

he  came  to  ^sop,  he  recalled  how  the  Hours,  who  had  once  nursed  him 

« 

on  the  peak  of  Olympus,  had  told  him  in  his  cradle  the  fable  of  a  calf, 
which  the  calf  itself  had  told  a  man,  about  itself  and  the  Earth;  and  he 
remembered  how  this  fable  had  tempted  him  to  covet  Apollo’s  oxen.  So  he 


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129 


gave  to  ^sop  the  only  art  which  was  left  in  the  box  of  wisdom,  the  art  of 
story-telling,  saying:  ‘Take  as  your  own  the  first  things  I  learned/  Hence 
came  to  Hisop  the  great  variety  of  his  art,  and  such  was  the  origin  of 
fable-writing/’ 

16. 

“But  perhaps  I  have  allowed  the  talk  to  wander,  for  when  I  meant  to 
bring  your  thoughts  to  a  more  scientific  theory  of  yEtna,  and  one  much 
truer  than  the  multitude  professes,  I  find  I  have  been  led  aside  into  a  com¬ 
mendation  of  fables.  Yet  this  digression  is  not  entirely  foreign  to  the 
subject,  for  the  fable  which  we  are  to  refute  is  not  one  of  yTisop's,  but 
rather  one  of  those  sung  and  dramatized  by  the  poets.  It  is  they  who  say 
that  some  Typhon  or  Enceladus  is  chained  under  the  mountain,  and  is 
breathing  out  these  flames  in  his  death-agony.  I  grant  that  there  have  been 
giants,  and  that  remains  of  such  a  race  have  been  discovered  in  many  parts 
of  the  world,  when  their  tombs  have  been  opened;  but  I  do  not  admit  that 
they  ever  fought  with  the  gods,  although  it  is  possible  that  they  may  have 
desecrated  their  statues  and  their  temples.  It  is  madness  to  say,  and 
madness  to  believe,  that  they  ever  scaled  heaven,  or  that  they  expelled  the 
gods  from  it.  Nor  can  that  other  fable  be  accepted,  although  it  may  be 
more  reverent,  that  Vulcan  labors  at  his  forge  in  yEtna,  and  pounds  on 
some  sort  of  anvil  there ;  for  there  are  many  other  fiery  mountains  in  the 
world,  and  it  would  be  too  rash  for  us  to  assign  Vulcans  and  giants  to  each 
of  them. 

17. 

“What  then  is  the  explanation  of  such  mountains  ?  Earth  which  con¬ 
tains  a  native  mixture  of  sulphur  and  bitumen  emits  smoke  spontaneously, 
but  does  not  take  fire.  If,  however,  it  has  crevices  through  which  air  can 
penetrate  the  mass,  its  torch  is  kindled,  and  as  the  fire  spreads  it  flows  like 
water  down  the  mountain-sides,  and  pours  over  the  fields  until  the 
accumulated  lava  reaches  the  sea,  forming  outlets  for  itself  like  those  of 
rivers.  Just  as  on  this  mountain  there  is  a  place  called  the  Field  of  the 
Holy,  because  lava  flowed  harmlessly  all  round  those  who  stood  there ;  so 
we  may  believe  the  whole  earth  to  be  a  place  of  safety  for  the  righteous, 
and  that  even  the  sea  itself  can  be  traversed,  not  only  by  those  who  sail, 
but  by  those  who  try  to  swim  across  it.”  tiis  discourses  always  ended  in 
salutary  reflections  of  this  sort. 

18. 

After  philosophizing  in  Sicily  as  long  as  he  thought  requisite  for  his 
observations,  he  sailed  for  Greece  at  about  the  rising  of  Arcturus,  in  the 
middle  of  September.  When  the  vessel  touched  at  Leucadia  after  an  un¬ 
eventful  passage  he  said  to  his  companions :  “Let  us  leave  this  ship  here,  for 


130 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


it  is  better  not  to  finish  our  journey  to  Achsea  in  her.”  None  but  those  who 
knew  the  man  attached  any  importance  to  these  words ;  and  he  himself, 
with  those  who  wished  to  travel  in  his  company,  was  carried  in  a  Leu- 
cadian  ship  to  Lechseum,  at  Corinth,  but  the  vessel  from  Syracuse  was 
wrecked  in  entering  the  Crissean  bay. 

19. 

Having  been  initiated  into  the  Mysteries  at  Athens,  which  was  done 
by  that  chief  priest  whose  appointment  he  had  foretold  to  his  predecessor, 
he  chanced  to  meet  there  the  philosopher  Demetrius.  Since  his  speech  about 
the  bath  constructed  by  Nero  Demetrius  had  been  living  at  Athens,  with  so 
little  attempt  at  concealment  that  he  did  not  leave  Greece  even  when  Nero 
was  strutting  about  the  games  there.  He  told  Apollonius  that  he  had  seen 
Musonius  in  fetters  and  compelled  to  dig  on  the  Isthmian  canal,  and  how 
he  himself  had  lamented  over  him,  but  Musonius,  lifting  his  mattock  and 
driving  it  hard  into  the  ground,  had  raised  his  head  and  said:  ‘'Are  you 
grieved  to  find  me  digging  at  the  Isthmus  for  Greece,  Demetrius?  What 
would  your  agony  be  then,  if  you  saw  me  singing  to  a  lyre  like  Nero?” 
But  we  must  pass  over  Musonius’  doings,  numerous  and  notable  as  they 
are,  that  I  may  not  seem  to  be  correcting  Damis,  who  tells  them  too 
imperfectly. 

20. 

The  winter  having  been  spent  in  visiting  all  the  temples  of  Greece, 
Apollonius  planned  a  journey  to  Egypt  in  the  spring,  and  after  he  had 
criticized  many  shortcomings,  and  had  given  advice  to  many  cities,  and 
had  bestowed  many  commendations,  for  he  did  not  grudge  praise  where  it 
was  due,  he  went  down  to  the  harbor  of  Piraeus.  There  was  a  ship  with 
sails  spread  ready  to  sail  for  Ionia,  but  the  charterer  would  not  allow  him 
to  go  on  board,  as  he  had  hired  the  entire  vessel  for  his  own  purposes. 
When  Apollonius  asked  what  cargo  he  was  taking  he  replied :  “Images 
of  the  gods  for  Ionia,  some  made  of  gold  and  marble,  and  some  of  gold 
and  ivory.”  “Do  you  intend  to  dedicate  them  to  the  gods,  or  what?”  asked 
Apollonius,  and  the  other  replied :  “Not  I ;  but  to  sell  them  to  those  who 
will  dedicate  them.”  Apollonius  asked:  “Are  you  afraid  that  we  will 
rob  the  ship  of  your  images,  my  good  man  ?”  The  other  answered :  “I  am 
not  afraid  of  that,  but  I  think  it  would  be  wrong  for  a  ship  with  such  a 
cargo  to  carry  a  number  of  passengers,  for  it  might  be  filled  with  foul  talk 
such  as  people  use  at  sea.”  “But  indeed,  my  dear  fellow,”  said  Apollonius, 
“for  you  seem  to  be  an  Athenian,  the  gods  remained  with  those  vessels 
which  your  city  sent  against  the  barbarians,  and  they  did  not  consider 
themselves  desecrated  notwithstanding  the  ships  were  filled  with  nautical 
license;  and  yet  you  unreasonably  exclude  philosophers  from  your  ship. 


BOOK  FIVE 


131 


whom  the  gods  especially  delight  in,  and  that  too  when  you  yourself  are 
trading  in  gods.  The  ancient  furnishers  of  images  carried  on  no  such 
business  as  that;  nor  did  they  go  about  from  city  to  city 'peddling  deities. 
They  carried  about  only  their  hands  and  their  tools  for  the  task  of  carving 
marble  and  ivory,  and  when  the  figures  were  blocked-out  they  brought 
them  into  the  temples  which  they  were  to  adorn  and  there  they  completed 
their  work.  Do  you  not  think  that  you  yourself  are  committing  sacrilege 
by  lugging  the  gods  about  to  ports  and  market  places  in  this  way,  like 
trash  from  Hyrcania  or  Scythia,  of  which  the  less  said  the  better?  A  few 
empty-headed  persons  carry  an  image  of  Ceres  or  Bacchus  hung  about 
their  necks,  and  say  that  they  are  fed  by  those  gods  they  wear ;  but  to  feed 
on  the  gods  themselves,  as  you  do,  and  never  to  be  cloyed  even  with  such 
food,  seems  to  me  an  unholy  business,  and  I  would  think  you  mad  if  you 
do  not  fear  the  consequences.”  After  this  rebuke  to  the  man  he  sailed  in 
another  vessel. 

21. 

On  reaching  Chios  he  stepped  from  that  vessel  into  another  lying 
alongside,  which  was  about  to  sail  for  Rhodes,  without  even  setting  his 
feet  on  shore,  and  his  disciples  followed  him  into  it  in  silence,  for  they 
were  zealous  to  govern  their  conduct  by  his  example  as  well  as  by  his 
precepts.  Having  crossed  to  Rhodes  with  a  favoring  wind,  he  said  these 
things  there. 

As  they  drew  near  to  the  Colossus  bestriding  the  harbor  entrance, 
Damis  asked  him  if  he  knew  of  anything  more  impressive  than  that,  and  he 
answered :  “A  sound  and  honest  philosopher !” 

Canus  the  flute-player  was  then  living  at  Rhodes,  who  was  reputed 
the  best  musician  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  Apollonius  sent  for  him  and 
asked  him :  “What  does  a  flute-player  accomplish  ?”  “He  pleases  his  audi¬ 
ence,”  was  the  reply.  Apollonius  said :  “But  many  of  the  audience  would 
rather  be  rich  than  listen  to  a  flute.  Can  you  make  those  auditors  ieel  rich 
then,  who  you  know  would  like  the  sensation?”  “By  no  means,”  Canus 
replied,  “however  much  I  might  wish  to.”  Apollonius  continued :  “Can 
you  make  your  young  hearers  beautiful,  for  all  would  like  to  be  thought 
beautiful  when  they  are  young?”  Canus  answered:  “Nor  that  either,  no 
matter  how  much  of  Venus  I  may  throw  into  my  flute-notes.”  “What  is  it, 
then  which  you  think  pleases  your  hearers  ?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  Canus 
replied :  “Only  that  if  any  one  is  sad,  his  melancholy  may  be  soothed  by 
the  music;  or  if  he  is  cheerful,  he  may  be  made  gayer;  if  he  is  in  love,  he 
may  grow  more  ardent ;  if  he  is  a  pious  worshipper,  he  may  be  more  filled 
with  the  divine,  and  anyway  he  will  be  a  better  hymn-singer.”  Apollonius 
rejoined:  “You  can  do  all  that,  Canus,  with  your  flute  which  is  made  of 


132 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


gold  and  bronze  and  the  bone  of  stags  and  asses ;  but  is  there  anything  but 
the  flute  itself  which  lends  power  to  its  music  ?”  “There  is,  Apollonius,’’  he 
answered,  “for  the  tune,  and  the  measure,  and  the  changes  of  modulation, 
and  the  quality  of  the  notes,  all  affect  the  hearers,  and  give  pleasing 
sensations  to  each  of  them.”  Apollonius  said :  “I  understand  now  what 
your  art  means  to  you,  Canus ;  that  is  to  say,  the  variety  and  change  in 
every  measure,  which  you  yourself  lend  grace  to,  and  teach  that  skill  to 
your  pupils.  But  the  flute  seems  to  me  to  require  still  more  than  you  have 
mentioned,  for  it  must  be  well-blown,  and  well-mouthed,  and  well-fingered. 
It  is  well-blown,  when  the  note  is  sharp  and  clear,  with  no  sound  from  the 
throat,  which  affects  the  music  so  disagreeably.  It  is  well-mouthed  when 
the  lips  quite  take  in  the  mouth-piece  of  the  flute,  and  the  cheeks  do  not 
puff  out.  I  think  the  fingering  of  the  flute  is  especially  important,  the 
hand  not  being  cramped  so  as  to  interfere  with  its  free  action,  nor  the 
fingers  slow  in  flying  over  the  intervals  between  the  stops,  for  the  sudden 
transition  from  measure  to  measure  is  principally  effected  by  rapid  finger¬ 
ing.  If  you  succeed  in  all  these  points,  Canus,  play  on  confidently,  for 
Euterpe  will  be  with  you.” 

22. 

An  uneducated  young  man  who  had  recently  become  wealthy  was 
building  a  home  in  Rhodes,  for  which  he  was  accumulating  all  sorts  of 
pictures' and  marbles  from  every  quarter,  and  Apollonius  asked  him  how 
much  his  tutors  and  schooling  had  cost.  “Not  a  drachma,”  he  replied. 
Apollonius  then  asked  him  how  much  his  house  had  cost,  and  he  answered : 
“Twelve  talents,  and  I  intend  to  spend  as  much  more  on  it.”  “What  do  you 
expect  from  this  dwelling  then?”  asked  Apollonius.  The  young  man  re¬ 
plied  :  “It  will  be  a  splendid  palace  of  pleasure,  with  avenues  and  groves 
about  it,  so  that  I  shall  rarely  go  to  the  forum,  and  my  visitors  will  salute 
me  as  reverently  as  if  they  were  entering  a  temple.”  Apollonius  asked 
again :  “Which  should  a  man  be  most  esteemed  for,  his  own  qualities  or 
his  surroundings?”  “For  his  wealth,”  replied  the  youth,  “because  wealth  is 
the  mightiest  thing  in  the  world.”  “But  is  it  better  for  the  custodian  of 
wealth  to  be  well-trained,  or  untaught?”  asked  the  Master,  and  when  the 
youth  made  no  reply,  Apollonius  went  on:  “It  seems  to  me,  young  man, 
that  you  do  not  own  your  house,  but  the  house  owns  you.  When  I  enter  a 
temple  I  would  much  rather  see  a  statue  of  ivory  and  gold  in  it,  even  if  the 
shrine  be  small,  than  a  cheap  clay  image  in  an  imposing  edifice.” 

23. 

Noticing  a  portly  youth,  who  prided  himself  on  surpassing  every  one 
in  eating  and  in  wine-drinking,  he  asked  him :  “Are  you  the  man  who  is 
so  devoted  to  the  pleasures  of  the  table?”  “I  am  the  man,”  said  the  youth, 


BOOK  FIVE 


133 


‘'and  I  offer  sacrifices  so  that  I  may  be  able  to  keep  it  up !”  “What  benefit 
do  you  expect  from  all  this  feeding?”  asked  Apollonius.  “Being  admired 
and  stared  at,”  the  youth  answered,  “for  you  know  that  Hercules  is  as 
famous  for  his  feasts  as  for  his  fights.”  The  Master  said:  “Yes,  because 
he  was  Hercules ;  but  you  pitiable  creature,  what  prowess  have  you  ?  The 
only  chance  you  have  to  attract  attention  is  to  burst!” 

24. 

Such  were  his  doings  at  Rhodes,  and  he  had  the  following  experiences 
in  Alexandria,  after  he  had  crossed  over  thither.  The  Alexandrians  had  a 
very  exalted  opinion  of  Apollonius,  even  before  he  came,  and  they  were  of 
one  mind  in  thirsting  for  his  teaching.  The  people  of  Upper  Egypt  too, 
being  especially  devoted  to  theology,  were  praying  that  he  would  visit 
their  country ;  for  since  there  was  constant  passing  back  and  forth  between 
Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  his  fame  had  spread  throughout  the  land,  and 
all  Egyptians  were  pricking  up  their  ears  for  him.  So  when  he  left  the  ship 
and  walked  into  the  city  they  gazed  at  him  as  if  he  were  a  god,  and  where 
the  road  was  narrow  they  left  it  free  for  him,  as  they  would  for  a  religious 
procession.  As  he  passed  along,  with  a  larger  following  than  the  governor 
of  a  province,  he  met  a  dozen  convicted  robbers  being  led  to  execution, 
and  looking  on  them  he  said :  “Not  all  of  those  men  are  guilty,  for  one  of 
them  has  been  condemned  on  false  evidence.”  Then  addressing  the  execu¬ 
tioners  who  were  conducting  them,  he  said :  “I  charge  you  to  slacken 
your  speed,  and  to  go  more  slowly  to  the  city  moat;  and  to  put  that 
man  to  death  last  of  all,  for  he  is  innocent  of  the  crime.  You  will  act 
piously  if  you  spare  them  for  a  good  part  of  the  day;  and  it  would  even 
be  better  not  to  execute  them  at  all.”  He  kept  on  spinning  out  his  remarks 
more  than  was  usual  with  him ;  but  his  reason  for  doing  so  was  soon 
apparent,  for  after  eight  of  the  men  had  been  beheaded,  a  horseman  rode 
at  full  speed  to  the  moat  crying  “Spare  Phario !”  This  convict,  although 
not  a  robber,  had  falsely  confessed  guilt  to  avoid  being  tortured;  but 
others  when  put  to  the  torture  had  declared  his  innocence.  I  need  not 
describe  the  sensation  in  Egypt  over  this,  and  how  that  people,  who  are 
always  fond  of  the  marvellous,  applauded  Apollonius. 

25. 

As  soon  as  he  mounted  the  steps  into  the  temple,  its  general  design 
and  the  reason  given  for  each  part  impressed  him  as  appropriate  for  an 
abode  of  the  gods,  and  as  being  a  model  of  architecture.  The  oblations  of 
bulls'  blood,  and  the  geese  and  other  sacrificial  victims  were  very  distaste¬ 
ful  to  him,  and  he  did  not  regard  them  as  feasts  for  the  gods.  One  of  the 
priests  asked  him  upon  what  theory  he  refused  to  sacrifice  in  that  manner, 
and  he  replied :  “It  is  rather  for  you  to  explain  to  me  upon  what  theory 


134 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


you  do  SO.”  The  priest  exclaimed :  '‘Who  is  so  clever  that  he  can  improve 
on  the  Egyptian  ritual  ?”  And  Apollonius  answered :  "Any  philosopher  can, 
who  has  visited  the  Sages  of  India.  But  I  will  make  a  burnt  sacrifice  of  an 
ox  today,  and  I  would  like  you  to  enjoy  the  savor  of  it  with  me.  You 
should  not  dislike  a  share  of  it,  if  the  gods  themselves  enjoy  it.”  He  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  melt  in  the  altar-fire  the  figure  of  an  ox,  moulded  from  incense, 
saying:  "Watch  the  sacrifice!”  "Where  is  it?”  asked  the  Egyptian;  "I  do 
not  see  any  here.”  Apollonius  replied:  "Were  the  lamidae,  and  the 
Telliadse,  and  the  Clytiadse,  and  the  prophetic  school  of  the  Melampodidse 
all  so  deluded  then,  my  dear  friend,  when  they  laid  down  so  many  rules 
for  us  about  observing  fire,  and  when  they  drew  from  it  so  many  omens  ? 
Or  is  it  your  idea  that  the  flames  of  pine-wood  or  cedar  are  oracular  and 
qualified  to  reveal  the  future,  and  that  a  flame  fed  with  the  richest  and 
purest  tears  of  incense  is  not  far  preferable?  Surely  if  you  were  skilled  in 
the  art  of  divination  by  means  of  fire  you  could  see  many  signs  even  in  the 
orb  of  the  Sun  at  its  rising ;”  thus  criticizing  the  Egyptian’s  ignorance  of 
pyromancy. 

26. 

Because  the  Alexandrians  were  passionately  fond  of  horse-races,  and 
crowded  the  amphitheatres  to  watch  them,  where  there  were  bloody 
faction-fights,  the  Master  sternly  rebuked  them  for  it,  and  mounting  the 
temple  steps  he  cried :  "How  long  will  you  persist  in  courting  death,  not 
in  defense  of  your  children  and  your  altars,  but  so  that  you  may  pollute 
your  temples  by  entering  them  dripping  with  blood,  and  may  die  disgrace¬ 
fully  inside  your  city  walls?  We  hear  that  Troy  was  overthrown  by  means 
of  one  horse,  which  the  Achseans  fabricated  for  the  purpose ;  but  chariots 
and  horses  both  are  harnessed  for  your  destruction,  if  they  keep  your 
conduct  unbridled.  No  Atreus  nor  Ajax  is  slaying  you.  You  kill  each 
other,  something  the  Trojans  were  not  guilty  of,  even  in  their  cups.  The 
Olympic  games  offer  prizes  for  wrestling  and  boxing  and  the  pancratium, 
but  no  one  is  killed  there  in  fights  over  the  athletes,  although  there  might 
be  some  excuse  for  people  losing  their  self-control  under  such  excitement ; 
but  you  draw  swords  on  each  other  about  horses,  and  you  actually  make 
piles  of  paving-stones  beforehand,  in  anticipation  of  such  affrays.  May 
fire  devour  the  city  which  is  dishonored  by  the  yells  of  the  slayers  and  the 
slain,  and  whose  soil  is  soaked  with  blood  I  Have  some  respect  for  your 
own  Nile,  the  universal  drinking-bowl  of  Egypt!  But  why  speak  of  the 
Nile  to  men  who  would  rather  set  a  gauge  to  measure  floods  of  blood  than 
of  water?”  Damis  says  that  he  frequently  exhorted  them  in  this  way  on 
the  same  subject. 


BOOK  FIVE 


135 


27. 

While  Vespasian  was  preparing  to  assume  the  empire  in  the  countries 
adjoining  Egypt,  and  was  advancing  toward  Egypt  itself,  men  like  Dion 
and  Euphrates  there,  of  whom  I  shall  soon  speak,  were  calling  on  the  popu¬ 
lace  to  welcome  his  arrival.  Now  during  the  fifty  years  which  had  elapsed 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Roman  empire  by  Augustus,  grievous  tyranny 
had  gone  on  increasing,  so  that  not  even  Claudius,  who  reigned  for  thirteen 
years  in  the  middle  of  that  period,  could  be  considered  a  good  ruler,  al¬ 
though  he  came  to  the  throne  at  the  age  of  fifty,  when  a  man’s  mind  is 
usually  soundest,  and  he  was  thought  to  love  every  kind  of  learning.  In 
spite  of  his  age  he  indulged  in  many  youthful  follies,  and  handed  over  the 
empire  to  women  as  a  pasture,  and  through  them  he  was  brought  to  an 
ignominious  death  which  he  made  no  effort  to  prevent,  although  fore¬ 
warned  and  expecting  it.  Apollonius  was  as  pleased  with  the  prospect  of 
change  as  Euphrates  and  Dion  were,  but  he  did  not  make  it  the  subject  of 
any  of  his  public  addresses,  thinking  that  kind  of  propaganda  to  be  more 
suited  to  political  orators.  A  priestly  procession  issued  from  the  city  gates 
to  welcome  the  approaching  emperor,  and  it  was  accompanied  by  the  high¬ 
est  officials  of  Egypt,  the  prefects  of  the  various  provinces,  and  all  the 
philosophers  and  sages,  except  Apollonius,  who  refused  to  take  part  in 
those  celebrations  and  continued  to  meditate  in  the  temple.  The  emperor 
received  them  kindly  and  courteously,  and  after  making  them  a  short 
address,  he  asked :  “Is  not  Apollonius  of  Tyana  here  in  Alexandria?”  “He 
is  here,”  they  answered,  “and  engaged  in  our  improvement.”  The  emperor 
asked :  “How  can  I  meet  him,  for  I  am  greatly  in  need  of  such  a  man  ?” 
Dion  replied :  “He  will  meet  you  in  the  temple,  for  so  he  promised  me  be¬ 
fore  I  came  away.”  “Let  us  go  there  at  once,”  said  the  emperor,  “to  pray 
to  the  gods,  and  to  meet  that  remarkable  personage.”  This  gave  rise  to  the 
rumor  that  during  his  siege  of  Jerusalem  Vespasian  had  formed  the  ambi¬ 
tion  to  claim  the  empire,  and  that  he  had  sent  for  Apollonius  to  advise  him 
in  the  undertaking,  but  that  the  philosopher  had  declined  to  enter  Judea 
because  its  inhabitants  had  polluted  it  by  what  they  had  done  and  by  what 
they  had  suffered;  and  that  for  that  reason  Vespasian,  after  assuming  the 
empire,  had  come  to  Egypt  for  those  conferences  with  the  Master  which 
I  shall  narrate. 

28. 

After  sacrificing,  and  without  waiting  to  give  the  customary  audience 
to  the  cities,  Vespasian  turned  to  Apollonius  and  said  beseechingly: 
“Make  me  emperor!”  “I  have  done  so  already,”  he  replied,  “for  when  I 
prayed  for  an  emperor  who  should  be  upright  and  high-minded  and  self- 
controlled,  venerable  for  his  gray  hair,  and  the  father  of  sons  like  himself, 


136 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


it  was  none  but  you  whom  I  was  begging  from  the  gods.”  The  crowded 
assemblage  of  people  in  the  temple  shouted  universal  applause  of  this 
speech,  and  the  emperor,  hugely  delighted,  asked :  “What  did  you  think  of 
Nero’s  reign?”  Apollonius  answered:  “Nero  may  have  known  how  to 
tune  a  lyre,  but  he  disgraced  the  empire  by  relaxing  and  tightening  its 
strings.”  Vespasian  asked :  “Do  you  then  expect  a  ruler  to  maintain  exact 
balance?”  Apollonius  replied:  “It  is  not  I  but  God  who  has  balanced 
equilibrium  between  the  two  extremes.  You  will  find  these  men  good 
advisers  in  such  matters,”  indicating  Dion  and  Euphrates,  with  whom  he 
had  so  far  had  no  falling-out.  Lifting  his  hands,  the  emperor  cried : 
“O  Zeus,  would  that  I  might  govern  wise  men,  and  they  govern  me !” 
Then  turning  to  the  Egyptians,  he  said :  “You  may  draw  from  me  as  from 
the  Nile !”  In  this  wise  was  Egypt  given  new  life,  when  she  was  exhausted 
by  all  she  had  endured. 

29. 

On  leaving  the  temple  the  emperor  took  Apollonius  by  the  hand  and 
led  him  to  the  palace,  saying :  “Perhaps  I  seem  to  some  people  to  be  act¬ 
ing  like  a  boy,  although  I  have  come  to  the  throne  at  the  age  of  sixty;  so 
I  speak  to  you  in  my  own  defense,  in  order  that  you  may  defend  me  to 
others.  I  recall  that  I  had  no  great  regard  for  money  even  in  my  youth, 
and  that  I  discharged  the  duties  of  the  various  offices  and  magistracies  of 
the  Roman  government  with  sufficient  moderation  and  modesty  to  seem 
neither  conceited  nor  obsequious.  I  plotted  no  rebellion  even  against  Nero, 
seeing  that  he  had  received  his  sceptre  from  an  emperor,  although  some¬ 
what  irregularly;  and  out  of  respect  for  Claudius,  who  had  made  me  a 
consul  and  one  of  his  advisers,  I  did  not  oppose  his  successor.  By  Athene ! 
when  I  saw  Nero  so  unmindful  of  his  dignity,  I  could  not  restrain  my 
tears  in  thinking  to  what  an  outcast  Claudius  had  bequeathed  his  immense 
dominions.  But  now  that  Nero  is  out  of  the  way,  and  I  see  that  matters 
go  on  no  better,  and  that  the  empire  is  held  in  such  scorn  as  to  be  hung  on 
Vitellius,  I  venture  to  claim  it ;  first,  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  that  I  am 
fit  for  such  a  station,  and  next  because  my  rival  is  a  sot.  Vitellius’  bath  is 
fuller  of  perfumery  than  mine  is  of  water,  so  that  I  would  think  a  sword- 
stab  would  let  more  ointment  than  blood  out  of  him,  and  he  pours  goblet 
after  goblet  of  wine  down  his  throat  till  he  is  crazy.  He  fears  that  the  dice 
will  turn  up  wrong  when  he  throws  them,  and  yet  he  gambles  away  his 
throne  in  child’s  play.  A  slave  to  harlots,  he  also  forces  matrons,  saying 
that  pleasure  is  heightened  by  danger.  As  to  his  fouler  actions  I  will  not 
mention  them,  nor  allude  to  such  subjects  before  you.  The  Romans  shall 
not  be  under  the  power  of  such  a  man  if  I  can  prevent  it ;  and  taking  the 
gods  as  my  guides  I  will  act  as  becomes  me.  So  I  throw  out  my  mooring- 


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cable  to  you,  Apollonius,  for  they  say  that  of  all  men  you  best  know  the 
gods ;  and  I  summon  you  to  be  my  companion  in  those  enterprises  on 
which  hang  dominion  over  land  and  sea,  so  that  if  the  gods  give  auspi¬ 
cious  omens  I  may  accomplish  them,  but  if  they  are  unfavorable  and 
against  the  Romans  and  me,  I  may  not  offend  by  striving  against  them.” 

30. 

Apollonius  was  divinely  inspired  by  this  appeal,  and  cried :  “O  Capi- 
toline  Jove,  I  recognize  thee  as  the  arbiter  of  this  impending  struggle! 
Defend  this  man  for  thy  own  sake,  and  thyself  through  him ;  for  it  is  fated 
that  he  shall  rebuild  thy  temple  which  sacrilegious  hands  burned  yester¬ 
day !”  Turning  to  the  astounded  emperor  he  said:  ‘‘What  has  happened 
will  reveal  itself  in  time,  so  do  not  ask  me  further  of  it  now ;  but  go  on  to 
complete  your  righteous  undertaking.”  Now  it  had  happened  the  day 
before,  that  Vespasian’s  son  Domitian  had  fought  in  Rome  with  Vitellius, 
in  support  of  his  father’s  claim  of  the  throne,  and  being  beset  in  the  Capitol 
had  eluded  his  besiegers,  but  the  temple  was  destroyed  by  fire;  which 
event  was  revealed  to  Apollonius  much  sooner  than  if  it  had  occurred  in 
Egypt  itself.  After  this  conference  Apollonius  took  his  leave  of  the  em¬ 
peror,  telling  him  that  the  devotions  which  the  Indian  Sages  had  learned 
from  their  ancestors  and  taught  to  him  did  not  permit  him  to  do  otherwise 
at  noon  than  they  did.  But  Vespasian  was  more  ardent  than  before,  and 
not  letting  slip  his  grasp  of  power,  he  held  it  confidently  as  something 
settled  and  promised,  because  of  what  he  had  heard  from  Apollonius. 

31. 

At  dawn  next  day,  Apollonius  entered  the  palace  and  asked  the  attend¬ 
ants  what  the  emperor  was  doing.  They  told  him  that  he  had  been  up  a 
long  time,  and  had  been  busied  in  writing  letters.  On  hearing  that  Apol¬ 
lonius  went  out,  saying  to  Damis :  “That  man  will  be  an  emperor !”  Re¬ 
turning  at  sunrise,  he  found  Dion  and  Euphrates  at  the  door,  and  when 
they  eagerly  inquired  about  his  interview  of  the  day  before,  he  repeated  to 
them  the  emperor’s  justification  of  his  course,  but  said  nothing  of  his  own 
opinion  about  the  emperor.  Being  called  in  ahead  of  them  he  said :  “O 
Emperor,  your  old  friends  Euphrates  and  Dion  are  outside,  and  are  not 
unmindful  of  your  interests.  Call  them  in  also  to  advise  with  you,  for  they 
are  wise  men.”  “My  doors  are  always  open  to  wise  men,”  answered 
Vespasian,  “but  you  may  be  sure  that  my  mind  too  is  open  to  you.” 

32. 

He  called  them  in  and  said:  “My  friends,  yesterday  I  pleaded  my 
cause  before  this  illustrious  man,  Apollonius.”  “We  have  listened  to  your 
defense  from  him,  and  it  did  not  seem  to  lack  justification,”  said  Dion. 


138 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


‘'Then,  my  dear  Dion,”  said  Vespasian,  “let  us  consult  together  today  upon 
my  plans,  so  that  I  may  carry  them  all  through  in  the  best  way,  and  con¬ 
sistently  with  the  public  welfare.  Considering  first  how  Tiberius  turned 
his  power  into  cruelty  and  oppression ;  and  then  how  his  insane  successor 
Caius  shamefully  trifled  with  every  interest  of  Rome,  raving  like  a 
bacchante,  dressing  like  a  Lydian,  and  holding  triumphs  for  battles  which 
were  never  fought;  then  next  how  Claudius,  in  spite  of  his  good  disposi¬ 
tion,  was  so  infatuated  by  women  that  he  neglected  both  the  empire  and  his 
own  life,  for  they  are  said  to  have  murdered  him;  I  need  not  speak  of 
Nero  after  those  few  trenchant  words  of  Apollonius,  about  the  laxness  and 
strictness  with  which  Nero  disgraced  the  throne;  nor  need  I  characterize 
the  methods  of  Galba,  who  while  adopting  the  wenchers  Otho  and  Piso  as 
his  sons,  was  slain  in  mid-forum ;  but  if  Vitellius,  the  lowest  of  them  all,  is 
left  by  us  in  possession  of  the  throne,  even  Nero  would  rise  from  his  grave 
to  protest.  Seeing  then  my  friends  how  odious  the  empire  has  been  made  by 
those  tyrants,  I  ask  you  to  advise  me  how  I  may  restore  that  monarchy 
which  has  been  brought  into  such  disrepute.”  Apollonius  remarked :  “An 
extraordinarily  skilful  flute-player  used  to  send  his  pupils  to  watch  other 
less  skilful  players,  so  that  they  might  learn  how  not  to  do  it.  In  the  same 
way,  O  Emperor,  you  have  learned  how  not  to  rule,  from  those  who  have 
governed  badly.  Now  let  us  take  counsel  how  one  should  rule.” 

33. 

By  that  time  Euphrates  had  become  secretly  jealous  of  Apollonius, 
noticing  how  the  emperor  listened  to  every  word  from  him  more  closely 
than  suppliants  of  oracles  do  to  their  responses,  so  he  lost  his  patience  at 
that  remark,  and  broke  in  with  a  shriller  voice  than  usual :  “It  is  not  right 
to  encourage  rash  impulses  by  flattery,  or  to  let  ourselves  be  recklessly  run 
away  with  by  men  who  drive  with  loose  rein !  We  ought  rather  to  try  to 
bring  them  back  into  the  road,  if  we  really  are  philosophers.  As  the  start¬ 
ing-point  of  our  deliberations,  we  ought  clearly  to  ascertain  whether  those 
things  should  be  done  at  all,  which  you  command  us  to  tell  you  how  to  do, 
before  you  know  whether  or  not  they  will  be  thought  advisable.  It  certainly 
is  my  opinion  that  Vitellius  should  be  dethroned,  for  I  know  that  the  man  is 
polluted  and  steeped  in  every  vice.  But  though  I  also  know  that  you  are 
a  good  man,  and  that  you  excel  in  nobility  of  character,  I  do  not  think  it 
fitting  for  you  to  undertake  to  correct  the  errors  of  Vitellius,  without  being 
made  aware  of  your  own.  That  monarchies  become  arbitrary  I  need  not 
tell  you,  for  you  have  said  so  yourself ;  but  this  you  should  bear  in  mind, 
that  when  a  young  man  unexpectedly  comes  to  the  throne  he  will  indulge 
his  whims,  for  to  be  despotic  is  as  natural  to  youth  as  drinking  or  loving, 
and  a  young  tyrant  may  not  be  altogether  bad  even  though  he  may  seem 


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139 


cruel  in  his  tyranny,  and  crude  and  licentious.  But  in  an  old  man  claiming 
sovereignty,  all  such  tendencies  are  rated  as  heinous  offenses,  and  although 
he  may  be  kindly  and  accomplished,  the  credit  for  that  is  given,  not  to  him, 
but  to  his  age  and  ripeness.  Moreover  the  general  belief  will  be  that  he  had 
failed  of  acquiring  the  sceptre  in  his  youth,  though  his  heart  had  long  been 
set  on  it,  and  such  failures  are  attributed  either  to  bad  luck  or  to  faint¬ 
heartedness.  So  he  will  be  thought  either  to  have  relinquished  his  earlier 
ambition  to  rule  because  he  had  lost  faith  in  his  destiny,  or  else  to  have 
submitted  to  the  incumbent  of  the  throne  because  perhaps  he  feared  his 
ability.  In  your  own  case,  we  may  dismiss  the  idea  of  bad  luck,  but  how 
will  you  refute  the  charge  of  cowardice,  especially  when  you  were  appar¬ 
ently  afraid  of  Nero,  the  most  dastardly  and  inert  of  men?  Vindex’s  up¬ 
rising  against  him  should  have  appealed  for  its  support  to  you  first  of  all 
men,  for  you  were  in  command  of  an  army,  and  the  forces  which  you  were 
leading  against  the  Jews  would  have  been  more  usefully  employed  in 
bringing  Nero  to  justice.  The  Jews  had  long  been  in  revolt,  not  merely 
against  the  Romans  but  against  the  whole  human  race,  for  they  are  men 
who  had  developed  an  unsocial  existence,  having  nothing  in  common  with 
other  men,  either  food,  or  libations,  or  prayers,  or  sacrifices ;  further  re¬ 
moved  from  us  in  those  respects  than  Susa  or  Bactria,  and  more  foreign 
than  the  Indians  who  lived  far  beyond  their  boundaries.  There  was  no  use 
in  subduing  their  rebellion,  when  they  would  not  be  worth  keeping  in  any 
event,  but  who  would  not  pray  to  slay  with  his  own  hand  that  Nero  who 
sang  in  the  midst  of  slaughter,  and  was  guilty  of  everything  but  blood¬ 
drinking?  I  used  to  prick  up  my  ears  at  every  sound  from  you,  and  if  any 
traveller  from  those  countries  told  how  you  had  slain  thirty  thousand  Jews 
in  one  battle,  and  fifty  thousand  in  another,  I  would  privately  ask  him: 
‘What  is  the  man  about?  Is  there  nothing  more  pressing  to  do  than  that?’ 
Now  if  you  are  going  to  make  war  upon  Vitellius,  whom  you  call  a  copy  of 
Nero,  go  on  with  your  purpose  of  dethroning  him,  which  is  excellent;  but 
when  it  has  been  accomplished,  follow  it  up  in  this  way.  Democracy  is  very 
popular  among  the  Romans,  and  a  great  part  of  their  success  is  due  to 
their  calling  themselves  a  republic.  Put  an  end  to  monarchy  then,  which 
you  yourself  find  so  objectionable,  and  confer  on  the  Romans  popular 
sovereignty,  and  on  yourself  the  glory  of  being  the  founder  of  their 
liberties.” 

34. 

At  the  close  of  this  speech,  seeing  that  Dion  favored  Euphrates’  opinion, 
for  he  showed  it  by  nods  and  approving  interjections,  Apollonius  asked  him 
if  he  had  anything  to  add  to  what  had  been  said,  and  Dion  replied:  “A 
few  words,  by  Zeus!  partly  agreeing,  and  partly  dissenting.  I  believe 


140 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


that  I  too  have  already  remarked  to  you,  Vespasian,  that  it  would  have 
been  better  to  overthrow  Nero  than  to  straighten  out  that  Jewish  tangle; 
but  you  never  seemed  to  entertain  the  thought  of  overthrowing  him ;  while, 
as  the  man  who  was  restoring  order  in  his  dominions,  you  were  actually 
strengthening  him  against  his  enemies  everywhere.  I  agree  too  that 
Vitellius  should  be  attacked,  for  it  seems  wiser  to  nip  tyranny  in  the  bud 
than  to  try  to  break  it  down  after  it  has  become  firmly  rooted.  I  even 
approve  of  popular  sovereignty,  for  although  that  form  of  government 
may  be  less  desirable  than  an  aristocracy,  prudent  men  will  prefer  it  to  a 
monarchy  or  an  oligarchy;  but  I  fear  that  the  Romans  have  been  so  de¬ 
moralized  by  their  tyrants  that  they  are  not  capable  of  such  a  transition,  nor 
qualified  to  use  freedom  well,  and  like  people  in  the  dark  who  suddenly 
see  a  dazzling  light,  they  may  not  be  able  to  lift  their  eyes  to  democracy. 
Wherefore  I  am  of  opinion  that  Vitellius  should  be  driven  from  power, 
and  that  it  be  done  as  soon  as  may  be  possible  and  practicable,  and  that  all 
warlike  preparation  should  be  made  for  that  purpose,  although  actual 
hostilities  probably  will  not  be  necessary,  but  it  will  be  enough  to  warn 
him  of  the  consequences  to  himself  if  he  refuses  to  abdicate.  When  he  is 
vanquished,  which  I  think  will  be  easy,  give  the  Roman  people  the  right  to 
choose  their  own  system  of  government.  If  they  wish  a  democracy,  let 
them  have  it.  This  renunciation  by  you  will  be  more  glorious  than  many 
empires,  and  many  prizes  at  the  Olympic  games.  Your  name  will  be  per¬ 
petuated  in  every  quarter  of  the  city;  everywhere  you  will  stand  in  bronze, 
and  you  will  furnish  us  with  a  subject  for  eloquence  with  which  neither 
Harmodius  nor  Aristogiton  can  be  compared.  On  the  other  hand,  if  they 
vote  for  a  monarchy,  to  whom  but  you  could  they  offer  the  sceptre?  Be¬ 
cause  you  had  yielded  it  to  the  people,  when  you  had  it  in  your  grasp,  they 
would  resign  it  to  you  in  preference  to  anyone  else.” 

35. 

All  kept  silence  after  that,  and  the  emperor’s  countenance  betrayed 
the  dissatisfaction  which  he  felt  in  seeing  himself  opposed  in  his  plans, 
when  he  was  already  wielding  the  power  and  dignity  of  an  emperor.  Then 
Apollonius  spoke:  “You  seem  to  me  to  make  a  great  mistake  in  trying  to 
unsettle  the  emperor’s  matured  policy ;  and  to  be  showing  off  like  boys  in 
this  idle  talk,  which  is  both  unpractical  and  untimely.  If  I  had  attained  the 
power  which  he  has,  and  you  had  stood  up  to  urge  such  folly  on  me,  while 
I  was  pondering  how  to  use  my  power  for  the  benefit  of  my  subjects,  your 
speech  might  have  had  some  effect,  for  philosophic  criticisms  may  amend 
philosophic  hearers.  But  in  the  case  of  a  man  of  consular  rank,  who  has 
long  been  accustomed  to  command,  and  over  whom  destruction  is  hanging 
if  he  loses  the  empire,  why  need  his  counsellors'  vilify  him,  if  instead  of 


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141 


turning  his  back  on  fortune’s  gifts  he  accepts  what  she  freely  offers  him, 
and  studies  how  he  may  use  his  power  wisely?  Suppose  we  saw  an  athlete 
endowed  with  high  spirit,  and  a  large  and  well-proportioned  body,  trained 
for  the  Olympic  games  and  already  on  his  way  to  them  in  Arcadia,  and 
we  should  encourage  him  to  meet  his  competitors,  but  should  order  him,  in 
case  he  should  win  the  prize,  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  proclaimed  the 
victor  by  the  voice  of  the  herald,  nor  to  submit  his  head  to  the  wreath  of 
wild-olive ;  we  would  seem  insane,  and  trifling  with  another  man’s  exertions. 
For  precisely  the  same  reason,  when  we  consider  such  a  man  as  this, 
escorted  by  so  many  lances,  surrounded  by  the  glitter  of  so  much  brazen 
armor,  and  by  such  a  force  of  cavalry,  and  when  we  note  how  courteous 
and  moderate  he  is,  and  how  worthy  to  achieve  his  ambition,  let  us  speed 
him  whither  his  purpose  leads  him,  crying  to  him  words  of  good  cheer, 
and  assuring  him  that  he  will  succeed  even  better  than  he  expects.  Has  not 
this  occurred  to  you,  that  he  is  the  father  of  two  sons  who  are  now  com¬ 
manding  armies,  and  who  will  become  his  bitterest  enemies  if  he  does  not 
bequeath  them  the  empire ;  and  that  he  has  no  alternative  but  to  go  on,  if 
he  would  not  war  with  his  own  flesh  and  blood?  If,  however,  he  accepts  the 
throne,  his  sons  will  be  dutiful,  he  will  maintain  their  authority  and  they 
his,  and  he  will  have  as  his  defenders  his  nearest  and  dearest,  instead  of 
mercenary  or  conscripted  guards,  hiding  their  enmity  behind  a  mask  of 
loyalty.  It  makes  no  difference  to  me  what  the  form  of  government  may 
be,  for  I  live  under  the  gods,  but  I  would  not  wish  the  human  flock  to 
perish  for  lack  of  a  just  and  moderate  shepherd.  For  as  one  man  con¬ 
spicuous  for  his  virtue  so  modifies  a  democracy  that  it  seems  to  be  the 
realm  of  that  one  best  man  in  it,  so  government  by  one  man  who  directs 
all  his  actions  to  the  public  welfare  is  popular  sovereignty.  Euphrates  says 
you  did  not  dethrone  Nero.  Did  you  either,  Euphrates,  or  you,  Dion,  or  I? 
Yet  no  one  blames  us,  or  calls  us  cowards,  although  other  philosophers 
have  overthrown  innumerable  tyrannies,  while  we  have  not  accomplished 
anything  for  freedom.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  I  did  stand  forth  against 
Nero  to  his  face,  reproaching  him  bitterly,  and  openly  inveighing  against 
the  murderous  Tigellinus.  I  also  built  a  citadel  against  Nero,  in  what  I 
did  in  the  west  to  aid  Vindex ;  but  for  all  that  I  will  not  claim  to  have 
dethroned  the  tyrant,  nor  will  I  call  you  slacker  than  befits  philosophers, 
because  you  did  none  of  those  things.  A  philosopher  should  speak  his 
mind,  but  in  doing  so  he  should  be  careful  to  say  nothing  unwise  or  un¬ 
reasonable.  A  consular,  planning  the  downfall  of  a  tyrant,  wants  first  of 
all  fuller  advice  how  he  may  take  his  enemy  by  surprise,  and  next  a  proper 
justification  for  breaking  his  oath  of  allegiance;  for  if  he  intends  to  turn 
his  arms  against  the  sovereign  who  gave  him  command  of  his  troops,  and 
whose  interests  he  has  sworn  to  defend  by  word  and  deed,  he  must  first 


142 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


defend  his  action  before  the  gods,  that  he  may  have  divine  sanction  for 
forswearing  himself.  Then  too  he  will  need  more  supporters,  for  such 
projects  are  not  to  be  undertaken  without  supplies  and  weapons,  and 
very  ample  funds  besides,  with  which  to  win  over  those  in  power,  especially 
when  his  antagonist  wields  all  the  resources  of  the  world.  Think  of  the 
delay  imposed  by  such  preparations !  of  the  necessary  time  involved ! 
You  may  very  properly  express  your  opinion  on  all  those  points,  but  let 
us  not  waste  time  in  discussing  matters  which  he  has  doubtless  considered 
well,  and  which  fortune  has  offered  him  without  any  effort  of  his  own. 
Here  is  an  unanswerable  objection  to  your  course.  This  very  man, 
who  has  already  taken  over  the  empire,  and  who  was  crowned  by  your 
cities  only  yesterday  in  these  temples,  and  who  is  actually  administering  the 
government  freely  and  splendidly,  you  are  instructing  today  tO'  proclaim  by 
the  crier  that  henceforth  he  will  be  merely  a  private  citizen,  and  that  he  has 
been  mad  in  claiming  the  empire !  But  if  he  shall  persevere  in  the  plans 
which  he  has  made,  he  will  continue  to  have  the  loyal  support  of  those 
subordinates  upon  whom  he  relied  in  making  them;  and  if  you  could 
persuade  him  to  change  his  mind,  he  would  make  an  active  enemy  of 
every  man  whom  he  would  have  betrayed  by  so  doing.” 

36. 

The  emperor  listened  to  him  well-pleased,  and  said:  “If  you  dwelt  in 
my  inmost  heart  you  could  hardly  have  expressed  my  thoughts  more 
clearly.  I  shall  follow  your  advice,  for  every  word  that  comes  from  you 
seems  to  me  inspired  by  the  gods.  Tell  me  then  what  a  good  ruler  should 
do  in  my  place.”  Apollonius  replied :  “You  ask  more  than  I  can  tell  you, 
for  the  art  of  ruling  is  man’s  highest  function  and  cannot  be  communi¬ 
cated,  but  if  you  follow  these  suggestions  I  think  you  will  be  doing  rightly. 
Do  not  reckon  as  your  wealth  what  you  keep  locked  in  your  strong-box. » 
What  better  is  that  than  so  many  heaps  of  sand?  Nor  the  revenues  exacted 
from  your  subjects,  who  usually  weep  when  they  pay  their  taxes;  for  gold 
coined  from  tears  is  counterfeit  and  tarnished.  You  will  enjoy  the  truest 
wealth  of  princes  when  you  help  the  needy,  and  protect  the  property  of  the 
well-to-do.  Beware  of  your  arbitrary  power,  so  that  you  may  use  it  as  little 
as  may  be.  Do  not  lop  off  the  high  and  upstanding  ears  of  grain,  according 
to  the  pernicious  advice  of  Aristotle,  but  rather  do  away  with  disaffection, 
as  you  would  weed  out  thistles  from  a  cornfield.  Inspire  fear  in  conspira¬ 
tors,  not  so  much  by  inflicting  punishments  as  by  being  ready  and  able  to 
do  so.  Obey  the  law  yourself,  O  Emperor.  You  will  enact  more  moderate 
laws  if  you  also  are  to  observe  them.  Worship  the  gods  even  more  than  you 
have  done  hitherto,  for  they  have  granted  you  much,  and  you  are  asking 
much.  Act  like  the  emperor  in  all  matters  affecting  the  empire,  but  like  a 


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143 


private  citizen  in  your  personal  affairs.  I  need  not  warn  you  against  dice 
and  drink  and  women,  for  it  is  well  known  that  even  in  your  youth  you 
cared  for  none  of  these  things.  They  tell  me  that  you  have  two  sons  of 
excellent  disposition,  O  Emperor.  Restrain  them  carefully,  for  their  mis¬ 
doings  will  all  be  imputed  to  you.  You  should  even  warn  them  that  you 
will  not  leave  them  the  empire,  if  they  do  not  continue  tO'  be  good  and 
honorable,  for  so  they  will  consider  the  throne  not  as  their  rightful  heritage, 
but  as  a  reward  of  their  virtue.  The  luxury  which  has  become  naturalized 
in  Rome — and  there  is  a  great  deal  of  it — should  be  abated  gradually,  in 
my  opinion;  for  it  is  hard  to  reform  a  whole  city  suddenly.  You  must 
regulate  their  tastes  by  degrees,  correcting  some  errors  publicly,  and 
others  in  secret.  Curb  the  pretensions  of  the  freedmen  and  slaves  whom 
possession  of  the  throne  will  bring  about  you,  so  that  the  greater  the  master 
whom  they  serve,  the  humbler  we  may  make  their  disposition.  As  to  the 
prefects  who  go  to  the  various  provinces,  I  will  not  speak  of  those  whom 
you  personally  appoint,  for  of  course  you  will  choose  their  qualifications 
with  reference  to  their  responsibilities ;  but  of  those  who  obtain  provinces 
by  lot;  some  of  whom  I  think  should  be  sent  where  their  lot  indicates, 
when  they  are  likely  to  be  of  service  to  the  peoples  whom  they  draw”  {here 
oceurs  a  short  hiatus  in  the  text)  “those  who  speak  Greek  to  govern 
Greeks,  and  those  who  speak  only  Latin  to  govern  people  using  that 
language.  I  will  tell  you  why  this  occurs  to  me.  When  I  was  in  Pelopon¬ 
nesus  a  man  was  governor  of  Greece  who  knew  no  Greek,  and  the  Greeks 
could  not  understand  what  he  said.  He  was  misunderstood  and  he  mis¬ 
understood  them  constantly;  and  his  counsellors  and  magistrates  who  sat 
with  him  to  try  cases  used  to  sell  his  decisions,  using  the  governor  like  a 
slave.  These  suggestions  are  all  that  come  to  me  at  this  time,  O  Emperor. 
If  I  think  of  anything  else,  we  perhaps  may  have  another  conference.  Act 
now  as  befits  the  crown,  lest  your  subjects  think  you  too  inactive.” 

37. 

Then  said  Euphrates :  “I  too  acquiesce  in  what  you  have  made  up 
your  mind  to  do,  for  what  would  be  the  use  of  advising  against  it?  But 
this  remains  to  be  added,  O  Emperor.  Love  and  cherish  that  philosophy 
which  accords  with  nature,  but  shun  the  kind  which  boasts  its  familiarity 
with  the  gods.  Such  philosophers  only  excite  us  unduly,  by  inventing  many 
crazy  notions  which  they  ascribe  to  the  divine  majesty.”  This  was  aimed 
at  Apollonius,  who  went  away  with  his  disciples  without  paying  any  atten¬ 
tion  to  it,  having  done  his  work.  As  the  emperor  saw  that  Euphrates  was 
so  exasperated  that  he  might  say  something  even  more  audacious,  he  fore¬ 
stalled  him  by  giving  orders  to  admit  any  who  might  have  petitions  to 
present,  and  that  the  council  should  meet  as  usual. 


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APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Thus  Euphrates  only  injured  himself  by  his  imprudence;  for  he 
showed  the  emperor  that  he  was  jealous  and  overbearing,  and  that  he  had 
started  the  discussion  about  democracy,  not  so  much  from  conviction,  as  to 
contradict  Apollonius’  views  of  government.  Nevertheless  he  did  not  dis¬ 
miss  him,  nor  manifest  his  irritation  over  the  outbreak.  Neither  did  he 
like  Dion’s  approval  of  that  opinion  of  Euphrates,  but  he  did  not  withdraw 
his  favor  from  him,  for  Dion  showed  himself  good-tempered  in  debate, 
and  avoided  ^wrangling,  and  diffused  sweetness  through  his  conversation 
as  incense  is  breathed  through  temples,  and  moreover  he  excelled  every¬ 
one  else  in  extemporaneous  speaking.  As  for  Apollonius,  the  emperor 
not  merely  loved  him,  but  he  hung  upon  his  words,  whether  he  spoke  of 
ancient  times,  or  told  of  Phraotes  the  Indian,  or  described  the  rivers  and 
the  beasts  of  India,  or  foretold  the  intention  of  the  gods  concerning  the 
empire.  When  Vespasian  went  away,  after  reviving  Egypt  and  inspiring 
her  with  new  hope,  he  wished  to  make  Apollonius  his  travelling-companion, 
but  the  Master  had  other  plans,  for  he  had  not  yet  seen  Egypt,  which  lay 
spread  before  him,  nor  had  he  conferred  with  the  Gymnosophists  there, 
and  he  greatly  desired  to  compare  the  wisdom  of  Egypt  with  that  of  India, 
and  he  said:  ‘T  have  not  drunk  from  the  sources  of  the  Nile.”  Seeing 
his  preparations  for  the  journey  into  Ethiopia,  Vespasian  said:  “Will  you 
remember  us?”  “Yes,  by  Zeus!”  he  replied;  “so  long  as  you  continue  to 
be  a  good  emperor,  and  remember  yourself.” 

38. 

One  day,  after  the  sacrifices  in  the  temple  were  over,  the  emperor 
publicly  gave  him  leave  to  ask  him  for  gifts ;  whereupon,  as  if  about  to 
request  something,  Apollonius  asked :  “What  are  you  willing  to  give  me, 
O  Emperor?”  “Ten  things  at  this  time,”  he  answered,  “and  all  I  have  when 
you  come  to  Rome.”  Then  Apollonius  said :  “It  behooves  me  then  to  be  as 
economical  of  what  you  have  as  if  it  were  my  own,  and  not  to  waste  it  now, 
since  it  is  all  to  be  kept  for  me  till  then.  Take  care  of  these  men  instead, 
O  Emperor,”  and  he  indicated  Euphrates  and  his  companions.  The  emperor 
told  them  to  ask  freely,,  and  Dion  said  with  a  blush,  “O  Emperor,  restore 
me  into  favor  with  my  instructor  Apollonius,  over  my  seeming  opposition 
to  him,  for  I  have  never  had  any  controversy  with  him  before.”  The  em¬ 
peror  said  approvingly:  “I  asked  and  obtained  that  for  you  yesterday, 
Dion;  so  now  ask  for  something  for  yourself.”  Then  said  Dion:  “Las- 
thenes,  of  Apamea  in  Bithynia,  used  to  be  a  companion  of  my  studies,  but 
he  fell  in  love  with  the  soldier’s  cloak  and  a  military  career.  Now  he  tells 
me  that  he  wishes  for  the  philosopher’s  cloak  once  more,  so  grant  his 
prayer  to  be  released  from  the  army.  In  doing  so  you  will  favor  me  by 
making  him  again  a  good  man,  and  you  will  favor  him  by  letting  him  lead 


BOOK  FIVE 


145 


the  life  he  has  chosen.”  “He  shall  be  released  at  once,”  said  the  emperor, 
“and  because  he  loves  philosophy  and  you,  I  grant  him  now  the  military 
premium  due  to  soldiers  who  have  served  their  time.”  Next  came  the  turn 
of  Euphrates,  who  had  written  a  letter  setting  forth  what  he  wanted,  and 
who  handed  it  to  the  emperor  for  his  private  perusal,  but  the  emperor  read 
it  aloud  to  them  all,  taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  embarrass  him. 
Euphrates  had  asked  in  it  for  various  things  for  himself  and  some  for 
others,  partly  in  money,  and  partly  in  gifts  to  an  equal  amount.  Then  said 
Apollonius  smiling:  “When  you  advised  a  democracy,  did  you  expect  to 
ask  so  much  from  the  emperor?” 

39. 

Besides  what  Damis  tells  of  the  dissension  between  Euphrates  and 
Apollonius,  I  learn  from  other  sources  that  after  the  emperor’s  departure 
they  publicly  assailed  each  other,  Euphrates  with  angry  abuse,  and  the 
Master  more  philosophically  with  arguments.  His  reasons  for  upbraiding 
Euphrates  for  conduct  unworthy  of  himself  or  of  any  philosopher  may  be 
gathered  from  Apollonius’  letters  to  him,  which  are  numerous.  But  I  must 
not  dwell  on  Euphrates,  for  I  have  not  set  out  to  castigate  him  as  he 
deserves,  but  to  write  the  biography  of  Apollonius  for  those  who  do  not 
know  it.  The  story  of  his  aiming  a  blow  with  his  staff  at  Apollonius  dur¬ 
ing  a  debate,  without  touching  him,  is  generally  explained  by  the  dexterity 
of  the  man  assaulted,  but  in  my  opinion  it  was  the  assailant’s  prudence 
which  controlled  just  in  time  the  anger  which  had  overcome  him. 

40. 

Dion’s  philosophy  seemed  unduly  rhetorical  to  Apollonius,  and  better 
calculated  to  give  his  hearers  pleasure  than  profit.  To  correct  this  tendency 
he  advised  him :  “Do  your  spell-binding  with  a  flute,  or  a  lyre,  rather  than 
with  your  voice !”  and  in  many  of  his  letters  to  Dion  he  criticizes  this 
effort  to  curry  favor  with  the  public. 

41. 

He  did  not  go  to  the  emperor  after  his  stay  in  Egypt,  nor  would  he 
take  up  his  abode  with  him  later,  although  Vespasian  sent  for  him,  and 
often  invited  him  by  letter;  and  this  was  his  reason.  Nero  had  granted  to 
Greece  by  edict  a  wiser  liberty  than  could  have  been  expected  from  him, 
under  which  its  cities  had  taken  up  once  more  their  Doric  and  Attic  insti¬ 
tutions,  and  general  prosperity  revived  through  the  peace  between  the 
cities,  a  long-felt  want  of  Greece.  When  Vespasian  came  to  the  throne  he 
did  away  with  all  that,  assigning  as  his  reason  certain  revolts  and  other 
offenses  not  deserving  of  such  condign  punishment,  in  the  opinion  of  those 


146 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


directly  affected  by  it,  and  of  Apollonius  himself;  wherefore  he  wrote  this 
letter  to  the  emperor : 

“Apollonius  to  the  Emperor  Vespasian,  greeting: 

“You  have  reduced  Greece  to  slavery,  they  tell  me,  and  in  doing  so 
you  think  yourself  better  than  Xerxes,  not  aware  that  you  are  worse  than 
Nero.  For  when  Nero  had  us  at  his  mercy,  he  yielded  to  entreaty.  Fare¬ 
well.’’ 

And  also  this : 

“Since  you  hate  the  Greeks  so  much  that  you  have  changed  them  from 
free  men  into  slaves,  why  do  you  desire  my  companionship?  Farewell.” 

And  also  this : 

“Nero  the  harpist  freed  the  Greeks,  but  you  the  statesman  have  en¬ 
slaved  them.  Farewell.” 

This  action  made  Vespasian  detestable  to  Apollonius,  but  on  hearing 
later  that  on  the  whole  he  was  administering  the  empire  well,  he  publicly 
expressed  his  pleasure,  and  seemed  as  grateful  as  if  he  had  received  a 
personal  kindness. 

42. 

Apollonius  also  did  this  notable  thing  in  Egypt.  A  beggar  was  leading 
a  lion  about  in  a  leash  like  a  dog,  which  fawned  on  its  master  and  on 
anyone  else  who  came  near.  They  begged  their  way  about  the  towns,  and 
even  went  into  the  temples,  as  the  animal  was  pure,  and  did  not  lick  up  the 
blood  of  victims,  nor  try  to  get  at  their  skinned  and  cut-up  carcasses,  con¬ 
tenting  himself  with  honey-cakes,  and  rolls,  and  sweetmeats  and  cooked 
flesh.  He  would  even  drink  wine  at  times,  without  being  affected  by  it. 
Apollonius  being  seated  in  a  temple,  this  lion  came  up  to  him  and  gently 
rubbed  against  his  knees,  soliciting  him  alone,  of  all  the  men  there.  Some 
thought  that  he  was  begging  money,  but  Apollonius  said :  “He  is  begging 
me  to  tell  you  whose  soul  he  has.  He  was  that  Amasis  who  was  a  king  of 
Egypt  in  the  Saitic  province.”  On  hearing  that  the  lion  howled  mournfully 
and  groaned  pitifully,  crouching  and  actually  shedding  tears.  Then 
Apollonius  said,  patting  him :  “I  think  this  lion  should  be  sent  to  Leon- 
topolis,  and  be  kept  in  the  temple  there.  I  do  not  think  it  right  that  a  king, 
who  has  been  metamorphosed  into  an  especially  royal  beast,  should  wander 
about  as  a  beggar.”  Thereupon  the  assembled  priests  made  sacriflce  for 
Amasis,  and  sent  the  animal  into  Egypt  adorned  with  a  collar  and  fillets, 
while  they  played  on  flutes  and  chanted  hymns  and  sang  about  him. 

43. 

Having  stayed  long  enough  in  Alexandria  he  went  on  through  Egypt 
to  Ethiopia  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  the  Gymnosophists.  As  Menippus 


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spoke  Egyptian  quite  fluently  by  this  time,  he  left  him  behind  to  keep  an 
eye  on  Euphrates,  and  he  also  dissuaded  Dioscorides  from  undertaking  the 
journey,  as  he  did  not  seem  quite  strong  enough  for  so  arduous  an  excur¬ 
sion.  Calling  the  others  together,  several  disciples  having  taken  the  places 
of  those  who  had  deserted  him  at  Aricia,  he  told  them  of  the  projected 
expedition,  prefacing  his  statement  of  it  thus : 

“I  need  to  make  an  Olympic  address  to  you,  my  friends ;  and  by  an 
Olympic  address  I  mean  this.  On  the  approach  of  the  time  for  the  Olympic 
games,  the  Eleans  train  all  the  athletes  for  thirty  days  in  Elis  itself. 
Now  before  the  Pythian  games  a  Delphian  addresses  the  assembled  ath¬ 
letes  there ;  and  in  the  same  way  before  the  Isthmian  games  a  Corinthian 
addresses  the  athletes  there,  and  both  say  the  same  thing:  ‘Go  into  the 
stadium,  and  show  that  you  are  champions  who  deserve  the  prize !’  But 
at  Olympia  the  Eleans  say  this  to  the  athletes :  ‘If  your  training  has  fitted 
you  to  come  to  Olympia,  and  if  you  have  not  exercised  lazily  or  unfairly, 
go  on  with  good  courage.  Those  of  you  who  have  not  been  so  trained  may 
go  where  they  like !’  ” 

His  disciples  understood  this  address,  and  about  twenty  of  them  re¬ 
mained  with  Menippus,  while  the  others,  about  ten  in  number,  after  in¬ 
voking  the  gods  and  offering  sacrifices  for  the  successful  result  of  the 
journey,  went  directly  toward  the  Pyramids,  mounted  on  camels,  and 
keeping  the  Nile  on  their  right  hand.  Sometimes  they  sailed  on  the  river, 
to  see  all  that  it  could  offer ;  nor  did  they  pass  in  silence  any  city  or  temple 
or  holy  place  in  all  Egypt,  being  taught  or  teaching  of  them  with  reverent 
discussion.  Whatever  boat  carried  Apollonius  became  like  the  sacred  ship 
of  envoys  to  an  oracle. 


148 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


BOOK  SIX. 

Voyage  up  the  Nile — Memphis — Memnon's  statue — Sojourn  with 

THE  GyMNOSOPHISTS - JOURNEY  TO  THE  CATARACTS  OF  THE  NiLE — - 

Description  of  them — Animals  and  men  of  Ethiopia — Adven¬ 
ture  WITH  A  SATYR - ReTURN  TO  ALEXANDRIA - CONFERENCES  WITH 

Emperor  Titus  at  Argos — Tarsus — Phcenicia — Cilicia — Ionia — 
Greece  —  Italy  —  Sardis  —  Antioch  —  Cnidos  —  Hellespont — ■ 
Tarsus  again. 

1. 

Ethiopia  occupies  the  western  horn  of  all  that  part  of  the  earth  where 
the  sun  is  vertically  overhead,  as  India  does  the  eastern  horn ;  and  it  ad¬ 
joins  Egypt  at  Meroe,  stretching  thence  along  an  unexplored  region  of 
Libya  to  that  sea  which  girdles  the  world  and  is  called  by  poets  the  ocean. 
Ethiopia  gives  to  Egypt  the  Nile  river,  which  begins  at  the  Cataract 
mountains,  and  brings  out  of  Ethiopia  all  Egypt  which  it  inundates.  Its 
area  cannot  be  compared  with  India,  but  neither  can  any  other  continent 
of  land,  of  all  those  named  by  men.  Even  if  we  should  add  all  Egypt 
to  Ethiopia,  as  we  might  say  the  river  itself  does,  both  of  them  together 
do  not  equal  India,  should  such  a  comparison  be  possible  with  so  vast 
a  territory.  The  rivers  of  the  two  countries  resemble  each  other,  so  far 
as  concerns  the  essential  characteristics  of  the  Indus  and  of  the  Nile;  for 
each  floods  the  fields  in  the  season  of  the  year  when  the  soil  needs  water 
most ;  they  are  the  only  rivers  which  support  the  crocodile  and  the  hippo¬ 
potamus  ;  the  traditions  of  Bacchic  orgies  are  alike  with  both,  and  fre¬ 
quent  sacrifices  are  offered  both  to  the  Indus  and  to  the  Nile.  Moreover 
the  belief  in  the  similarity  of  India  and  Ethiopia  is  confirmed  by  their 
spices  and  their  lions,  and  by  the  fact  that  the  elephant  is  caught  and 
trained  to  work  in  both.  Beasts  are  common  to  both  countries  which  are 
not  found  elsewhere,  and  the  men  are  black,  such  as  no  other  land  produces, 
and  both  have  tribes  of  pigmies,  and  of  barking  men,  and  other  wonders 
scattered  through  them.  The  griffins  of  India  and  the  ants  of  Ethiopia, 
although  unlike  in  appearance,  agree  in  their  habits,  for  in- each  they  are 
said  to  choose  gold-bearing  earth  for  their  dens,  and  to  guard  the  gold 
there.  Without  carrying  this  parallel  further,  let  us  . return  to  our  Subject 
and  follow  our  hero. 

2. 

On  reaching  the  boundary  between  Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  at  a  place 
called  Sycaminus,  they  found  lying  unguarded  at  a  fork  of  the  road,  linen 


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and  ivory  and  roots  and  myrrh  and  spices  and  uncoined  gold.  This  prac¬ 
tice  has  continued  to  our  own  times ;  and  the  explanation  is  that  Ethiopians 
deposit  at  this  market-place  the  products  of  their  own  country,  which  the 
Egyptians  take  away,  leaving  in  their  stead  Egyptian  goods  of  equal  value, 
so  that  each  party  exchanges  what  they  have  for  what  they  need.  The 
natives  along  the  border  are  not  very  black,  being  in  color  half-way  be¬ 
tween  the  two  races,  lighter  than  Ethiopians  and  darker  than  Egyptians. 
After  inquiring  into  this  method  of  barter,  Apollonius  said :  ‘'Our  thrifty 
Greeks  say  that  they  cannot  live  unless  penny  begets  penny,  and  they  fix 
prices  on  their  wares  by  screwing  them  up  and  beating  them  down,  each 
excusing  himself  by  the  plea  that  he  must  get  a  dowry  for  his  daughter,  or 
that  he  has  a  grown  son  to  set  up  in  business,  or  that  he  must  pay  his  club- 
dues,  or  build  a  house,  or  that  he  is  ashamed  to  be  worse  off  than  his 
father.”  He  thought  that  people  happy  where  wealth  was  a  disgrace ; 
where  all  were  of  the  same  condition ;  where  black  iron  lay  unmined  while 
men  lived  in  fellowship,  and  all  the  land  seemed  one ! 

3. 

With  such  discourses,  drawing  useful  morals  from  the  daily  happen¬ 
ings  of  travel,  he  went  on  toward  the  statue  of  Memnon.  Their  guide  was 
a  young  Egyptian  named  Timasion,  of  whom  Damis  gives  these  particu¬ 
lars.  He  was  already  in  vigorous  youth,  though  hardly  more  than  a  boy, 
when  his  stepmother  fell  in  love  with  him  and  tried  to  seduce  him.  Having 
been  chastely  resisted,  she  prejudiced  the  lad’s  father  against  him,  not  by 
such  accusations  as  Phaedra  made,  but  by  saying  that  he  was  effeminate 
and  liked  men-lovers  better  than  women.  In  this  way  he  was  driven  from 
home  in  Naucratis,  where  this  had  befallen  him,  and  was  living  near  Mem¬ 
phis,  where  he  had  procured  a  boat  of  his  own  and  was  earning  his  living 
with  it  on  the  Nile.  As  he  drifted  down  stream  he  met  Apollonius  coming 
up  against  the  current,  and  when  he  saw  that  the  vessel  was  filled  with 
philosophers,  whom  he  recognized  by  their  cloaks,  and  by  the  scrolls  which 
they  were  studying,  he  begged  permission  to  join  them,  because  he  was 
eager  to  acquire  knowledge.  Apollonius  said :  “My  friends,  this  is  a  good 
lad.  Let  him  have  the  reward  which  he  seeks and  while  the  youth  was 
coming  alongside  the  Master  told  his  disciples  sitting*  near  him,  in  a  low 
voice,  the  story  of  the  stepmother.  As  the  boats  came  together  Timasion 
gave  some  directions  to  his  steersman  about  his  cargo,  and  then  saluting 
the  passengers  he  leapt  aboard.  Apollonius  gave  him  a  seat  opposite  his 
own  and  said :  “Young  Egyptian,  for  you  seem  to  be  of  that  nationality, 
tell  us  what  of  evil  or  good  you  have  done.  Your  age  will  serve  as  an  ex¬ 
cuse  for  your  faults,  and  as  the  reward  of  your  merits  you  shall  have  my 
approval,  and  may  study  philosophy  with  these  men  and  with  me.”  Seeing 


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Timasion  blush  and  open  his  mouth  to  speak,  and  then  close  it  again,  he 
went  on  asking  one  question  after  another,  as  if  he  knew  nothing  at  all 
about  him.  Then  taking  courage,  Timasion  said :  '‘O  ye  gods  !  What  shall 
I  say  of  myself?  I  am  not  bad,  and  yet  I  am  not  sure  that  I  ought  to  call 
myself  good,  for  at  my  age  it  is  no  merit  not  to  have  done  wrong.”  Then 
Apollonius  exclaimed :  “Bless  me,  my  boy,  you  answer  me  as  if  you  had 
been  brought  up  by  the  Indian  Sages,  for  the  divine  larchas  had  the  same 
way  of  thinking !  How  did  you  come  by  it,  and  who  taught  you,  for  you 
look  as  if  you  had  kept  yourself  from  sinning?”  When  the  lad  began  to 
tell  how  his  stepmother  had  persecuted  him,  and  how  he  had  resisted  her 
blandishments,  the  disciples  cried  out,  because  Apollonius  by  divine  inspira¬ 
tion  had  already  told  them  the  same  thing.  Timasion  said  to  them:  “What 
is  the  matter  with  you,  my  dear  sirs?  What  I  have  told  you  is  neither 
surprising  nor  amusing,  as  it  seems  to  me.”  Then  Damis  replied:  “We 
are  surprised  at  something  else  which  you  do  not  yet  know ;  and  it  is 
greatly  to  your  credit,  my  lad,  that  you  think  you  have  done  nothing  won¬ 
derful.”  “Do  you  sacrifice  to  Venus,  my  boy?”  asked  Apollonius.  “Yes, 
by  Zeus,  every  day,”  replied  the  youth,  “for  I  think  that  goddess  is  the 
most  powerful  influence  over  either  men  or  gods.”  Immensely  pleased  by 
that  reply,  Apollonius  said  to  the  others :  “Let  us  award  the  wreath  for 
self-control  to  this  boy,  rather  than  to  Theseus’  son  Hippolytus;  for 
Hippolytus  scorned  Venus,  and  for  that  reason  perhaps  the  passion  of 
love  never  tempted  him,  and  no  Cupid  made  merry  with  him,  so  that  he 
was  of  boorish  and  unsoftened  nature.  But  this  lad  here,  though  he 
acknowledges  his  devotion  to  the  goddess,  was  not  overcome  by  his 
temptress,  and  has  kept  aloof  from  her,  dreading  the  wrath  of  the  goddess 
herself  if  he  should  succumb  to  a  forbidden  love.  When  a  man  hates  any 
god  as  Hippolytus  did  Venus,  I  do  not  think  his  action  deserves  the 
honored  name  of  self-control,  for  the  essence  of  self-control  is  reverence 
for  all  gods,  as  we  see  at  Athens,  where  altars  are  erected  even  to  unknown 
gods.”  This  embraces  all  that  Damis  tells  of  Timasion,  except  that  he 
used  to  call  him  Hippolytus,  from  the  eyes  with  which  he  had  regarded  his 
stepmother.  He  seemed  moreover  to  have  kept  in  good  training,  and  to 
have  been  especially  graceful  in  gymnastic  exercise. 

4. 

Under  this  youth’s  guidance  Damis  says  they  came  to  the  temple  built 
around  the  statue  of  Memnon,  of  whom  he  writes  that  Memnon  was  the 
son  of  Aurora,  and  did  not  die  at  Troy,  nor  even  go  there,  but  that  he 
ended  his  life  in  Ethiopia,  after  reigning  over  that  people  during  five  gen¬ 
erations  of  his  subjects,  who  are  the  longest-lived  of  all  men.  They  mourn 
him  yet,  and  lament  that  he  was  cut  off  from  them  by  so  untimely  a  death 


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in  the  prime  of  life.  Damis  says  that  the  site  of  his  statue  looks  like  one 
of  those  antique  forums  whose  ruins  are  still  seen  in  long-abandoned  cities, 
exhibiting  delicately-chiseled  columns  and  fragmentary  walls,  with  seats 
and  doorways,  and  statues  of  Hermes,  ruined  partly  by  time  and  partly  by 
depredation.  The  statue  of  Memnon  is  carved  from  black  stone  and  repre¬ 
sents  a  beardless  youth  facing  the  rising  sun,  with  feet  joined  together  in 
the  archaic  style  of  sculpture  of  the  period  of  Daedalus,  and  with  hands 
flattened  on  the  arms  of  the  chair,  for  he  is  seated  as  if  in  the  act  of  rising. 
Damis  says  that  this  posture  of  the  body,  and  the  expression  of  the  eyes, 
and  something  about  the  mouth,  all  indicate  that  he  is  on  the  point  of  speak¬ 
ing,  yet  they  saw  nothing  very  remarkable  in  the  statue  at  first  glance,  for 
its  action  did  not  seem  significant.  But  when  the  first  ray  of  the  sun 
touched  it,  which  occurred  just  at  sunrise,  they  could  not  control  their 
astonishment,  for  it  uttered  a  sound  as  soon  as  the  sunbeam  reached  its 
lips,  and  it  seemed  to  raise  its  gleaming  eyes  joyfully  toward  the  light,  like 
a  basking  man.  Damis  says  that  then  they  understood  his  attitude  to  be 
that  of  rising  to  greet  the  sun,  as  if  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  a  superior. 
Wherefore  they  offered  sacrifices  to  the  Ethiopian  (burnt-face)  Sun,  and 
to  Memnon  of  the  Dawn,  for  so  the  priests  named  them,  the  one  from  its 
burning  and  heating,  and  the  other  after  his  mother.  Then  mounting  their 
camels  they  rode  on  toward  the  abode  of  the  Gymnosophists. 

5. 

On  their  way  they  came  across  a  man  dressed  in  Memphian  costume 
who  was  wandering  about  instead  of  following  a  fixed  course,  and  those 
near  Damis  asked  him  who  he  was,  and  why  he  roamed  about  so.  Then 
Timasion  said :  ‘‘You  would  better  ask  me  than  him,  for  he  cannot  bear 
to  tell  you  his  plight,  because  he  is  ashamed  of  the  misfortune  he  is  in; 
but  as  I  happen  to  know  and  sympathize  with  him  I  will  tell  you  all  that 
has  happened  to  him.  He  accidentally  killed  a  man  in  Memphis,  and  the 
Memphian  law  requires  that  an  involuntary  homicide,  who  must  flee  some¬ 
where,  shall  go  into  exile  to  the  Gymnosophists.  If  they  shall  have  purified 
him  from  his  deed,  he  may  return  home  free  from  guilt,  after  first  going 
to  the  victim’s  tomb  and  making  some  small  sacrifice  there.  But  before  he 
is  received  by  the  Gymnosophists,  he  must  wander  about  their  borders 
here  as  a  suppliant,  until  they  have  compassion  on  him.”  Then  Apollonius 
asked  Timasion  what  the  Gymnosophists  thought  of  this  fugitive,  and  he 
replied :  “I  do  not  know,  but  he  has  been  suing  here  for  their  pardon  seven 
months  now,  without  obtaining  it  yet.”  Apollonius  rejoined :  “Such  men 
as  you  describe  are  no  Sages,  if  they  are  unwilling  to  purify  this  man,  and 
do  not  know  that  the  Philiscus  whom  he  slew  was  a  descendant  of  Thamus 
the  Egyptian,  who  once  ravaged  the  lands  of  the  Gymnosophists.” 


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Timasion  asked  in  astonishment:  “What  do  you  say?”  “I  say  what  hap¬ 
pened,  young  man,”  said  Apollonius.  “The  Gymnosophists  had  revealed 
to  the  Memphians  that  Thamus  was  plotting  revolt  against  them,  whereby 
his  schemes  were  thwarted,  and  he  in  despair  collected  a  band  of  robbers 
from  the  region  around  Memphis,  and  devastated  the  territory  where  those 
philosophers  dwell.  I  perceive  that  the  Philiscus  killed  by  this  man  was  the 
thirteenth  in  descent  from  Thamus,  and  to  those  whose  lands  his  ancestor 
had  ruined  he  was  plainly  accursed.  Where  is  their  wisdom  then,  if  they 
hesitate  to  cleanse  this  man  from  that  involuntary  slaying,  which  was 
really  done  in  their  interest,  and  for  which  they  ought  to  crown  him,  even 
if  he  had  done  it  intentionally?”  Dumfounded,  the  wanderer  asked  him: 
“Who  are  you,  stranger?”  and  Apollonius  replied:  “I  am  he  whom  you 
will  find  among  the  Gymnosophists.  But  since  it  is  not  permitted  to  me  to 
converse  with  one  who  is  still  stained  with  blood,  do  you,  Timasion,  tell 
him  to  be  of  good  courage,  for  he  will  soon  be  purified  if  he  comes  to  my 
tent.”  On  his  coming  there  accordingly,  those  rites  were  performed  over 
him  which  Empedocles  and  Pythagoras  enjoin  for  expiation  in  such  cases, 
and  he  was  sent  home  cleansed  of  the  offense. 

6. 

Leaving  this  camp  at  sunrise  they  arrived  before  noon  at  the  school 
of  the  Gymnosophists.  According  to  Damis,  these  dwell  on  a  low  ridge 
not  far  from  the  bank  of  the  Nile,  and  they  are  as  much  excelled  in  wisdom 
by  the  Indian  Sages  as  they  themselves  excel  the  Egyptians.  They  go  as 
naked  as  men  do  who  bask  in  the  sun  at  Athens.  Trees  are  rare  in  that 
vicinity,  but  there  is  one  grove  of  no  great  extent  in  which  they  meet  to 
discuss  the  affairs  of  the  community.  Their  temples  are  not  collected  in  one 
locality,  as  among  the  Indians,  but  are  scattered  along  the  ridge,  and  are 
held  in  the  highest  reverence,  as  the  Egyptians  declare.  They  especially 
worship  the  Nile,  deeming  that  river  to  be  both  land  and  water.  Living 
in  the  open  air  with  nothing  over  them  but  the  sky,  they  require  no  roof  or 
other  shelter  for  themselves,  but  they  have  built  as  a  lodging  for  their 
guests  a  small  colonnade,  about  as  large  as  those  at  Elis  under  which  the 
athlete  waits  for  the  noontime  proclamation. 

7. 

At  this  point  Damis  tells  of  something  Euphrates  did,  which  we  cannot 
describe  as  childish,  but  prompted  by  a  jealousy  incompatible  with  philoso¬ 
phy.  Having  heard  Apollonius  say  that  he  intended  to  compare  the  wis¬ 
dom  of  India  with  that  of  Egypt,  he  sent  Thrasybulus  of  Naucratis  to  the 
Gymnosophists  to  slander  him.  Thrasybulus  told  them  that  his  own  visit 
was  one  of  friendship,  and  warned  them  of  the  coming  of  Apollonius, 
which  would  bring  no  small  danger  to  them,  for  Apollonius  was  wiser  than 


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the  Indian,  Sages  themselves,  whose  praises  were  always  on  his  lips,  and 
he  had  devised  innumerable  traps  for  them,  and  conceded  nothing  to  sun 
or  sky  or  earth,  for  he  moved  and  drove  and  changed  those  things  about  at 
will. 

8. 

After  telling  these  lies  Thrasybulus  went  away,  leaving  them  con¬ 
vinced  of  the  truth  of  what  he  had  told  them ;  so  when  Apollonius  arrived, 
though  they  did  not  flatly  refuse  to  confer  with  him,  they  sent  him  word 
that  they  were  engaged  in  matters  of  great  moment,  which  required  all 
their  attention,  but  that  they  would  hold  discussions  with  him  as  soon  as 
they  had  leisure,  and  when  they  had  ascertained  what  was  his  motive  in 
coming,  and  what  questions  he  intended  to  ask ;  and  that  meantime  he  was 
to  lodge  in  the  colonnade.  Apollonius  replied  to  the  messenger :  “Do  not 
talk  to  me  of  a  roof,  for  here  is  a  climate  which  permits  anyone  to  live 
naked”  (implying  that  they  went  naked  not  by  way  of  self-denial  but  of 
necessity).  “I  am  not  surprised  that  they  do  not  know  already  why  I  have 
come  and  what  I  wish  to  ask;  and  yet  the  Indian  Sages  did  not  have  to 
ask  me  that !”  Then  lying  under  a  tree  he  conversed  with  his  companions 
on  whatever  topics  they  suggested. 

9. 

Damis  took  Timasion  aside  from  the  others  and  asked  him  privately: 
“If  I  am  not  mistaken,  you  once  spent  some  time  with  these  Gymno sophists, 
my  dear  fellow.  What  subjects  does  their  wisdom  embrace?”  “Many  very 
important  subjects,”  Timasion  replied;  and  Damis  said:  “But  surely  this 
way  of  dealing  with  us  does  not  indicate  wisdom,  for  to  be'  unwilling  to 
discuss  philosophy  with  such  a  man  as  Apollonius,  and  to  treat  him  with 
disrespect,  I  can  only  call  conceit,  comrade.”  Timasion  answered :  “I  never 
saw  any  conceit  in  them  before,  although  I  have  visited  tliem  here  twice. 
They  have  always  shown  themselves  moderate  and  courteous  to  all  who 
came.  For  instance  less  than  fifty  days  ago  Thrasybulus  was  staying  here, 
who  is  a  man  of  no  standing  as  a  philosopher,  and  yet  they  welcomed  him 
because  he  said  that  he  was  a  disciple  of  Euphrates.”  Damis  exclaimed: 
“What  is  that  you  say,  boy?  Did  you  see  Thrasybulus  of  Naucratis  at 
this  school?”  “I  certainly  did,”  answered  Timasion,  “and  what  is  more  I 
carried  him  down  the  river  from  here  in  my  boat.”  “I  see  it  all  now,  by 
Athene !”  cried  Damis  indignantly ;  “it  is  plain  that  he  has  set  some  snare 
for  us.”  Timasion  said :  “When  I  asked  the  Master  yesterday  who  he  was, 
he  did  not  think  me  worthy  of  that  confidence.  Tell  me  yourself  who  he  is, 
unless  some  sacred  mystery  is  involved,  and  perhaps  I  may  be  able  some¬ 
how  to  unravel  what  you  wish  to  find  out.”  On  learning  from  Damis  that 
the  Master  was  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  Timasion  said:  “You  have  hit  the 


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APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


mark;  for  while  Thrasybulus  was  floating  down  the  Nile  with  me,  I  asked 
him  why  he  had  come  up  here,  and  he  told  me  of  his  unworthy  cunning, 
saying  that  he  had  filled  these  Gymnosophists  with  such  suspicion  of  Apol¬ 
lonius  that  he  would  be  snubbed  if  he  came  here.  I  do  not  know  what 
grudge  he  had  against  him,  but  I  think  it  ill-bred  and  unmanly  to  slander 
a  man  behind  his  back  in  such  fashion.  Now  I  will  call  on  these  men  to 
pay  my  respects,  and  as  I  am  on  good  terms  with  them,  I  may  find  out  how 
the  land  lies.”  On  returning  to  the  party  in  the  evening,  Timasion  said 
nothing  to  Apollonius  of  his  visit,  except  that  he  had  saluted  them,  but  he 
privately  reported  to  Damis  that  the  Gymnosophists  were  coming  to  them 
next  day,  full  of  what  they  had  heard  from  Thrasybulus. 

10. 

After  some  colloquies  not  deserving  to  be  reported,  the  party  went  to 
sleep  that  night  where  they  had  supped.  Next  morning,  having  worshipped 
the  Sun  at  early  dawn  in  his  usual  way,  Apollonius  was  engaged  in  private 
meditation  on  some  deep  subject  when  Nilus  the  youngest  of  the  Gymnoso¬ 
phists  ran  up  to  him  and  said ;  '‘We  are  on  our  way  to  you  !”  "Quite  right, 
too,”  he  replied,  "for  I  have  travelled  all  the  way  from  the  sea  to  meet 
you;”  and  he  followed  Nilus  at  once,  exchanging  the  usual  polite  inquiries, 
until  they  met  the  other  Gymnosophists  near  the  colonnade.  "Where  shall 
we  have  our  conference?”  he  asked,  and  Thespesio  answered  "there,” 
pointing  to  the  grove.  Thespesio  was  the  oldest  of  the  Gymnosophists  and 
preceded  them  all,  while  they  followed  him  with  slow  and  measured  pace, 
as  judges  at  the  Olympic  games  follow  their  leader.  After  seating  them¬ 
selves  wherever  they  happened  to  be,  for  they  did  not  arrange  themselves 
in  any  order,  they  all  looked  at  Thespesio  as  the  host  of  the  occasion,  and 
he  began  thus:  "They  say  that  you  have  watched  the  Pythian  and  the 
Olympic  games,  Apollonius  (for  Stratocles  of  Pharos  told  us  that  he  had 
met  you  there)  ;  and  that  Delphi  welcomes  its  visitors  with  flutes  and  songs 
and  lyres,  and  entertains  them  with  comedies  and  tragedies,  and  finally 
after  all  that,  offers  them  the  naked  athletic  games ;  but  that  Olympia 
eschews  all  such  amusements,  as  frivolous  and  unsuited  to  the  occasion, 
and  shows  only  its  athletes,  naked  as  Hercules  prescribed,  to  all  who  come. 
You  may  take  that  as  an  illustration  of  our  wisdom,  as  compared  with  that 
of  the  Indians.  Like  the  Pythians,  they  solicit  guests  by  catering  to  popu¬ 
lar  taste  with  all  sorts  of  jugglery,  but  we  are  naked  as  at  Olympia.  Our 
ground  spreads  out  no  soft  couches,  and  flows  with  no  milk  or  wine,  as  if 
for  bacchantes ;  nor  will  our  air  float  us  on  high,  but  we  live  with  no  bed 
but  earth  under  us,  and  we  receive  from  it  only  its  natural  productions, 
which  it  offers  us  freely  and  not  compelled  against  its  will.  However,  to 
show  you  that  we  do  not  lack  power  to  work  miracles,  let  that  tree”  (point- 


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ing  as  he  spoke  to  an  elm,  the  third  tree  from  the  one  under  which  they 
were  sitting)  ‘'address  by  name  the  learned  Apollonius!”  And  the  tree 
did  name  him  as  it  was  bidden,  in  a  clearly  articulated  feminine  voice.  This 
prodigy  was  intended  to  lessen  Apollonius’  estimate  of  the  Indian  Sages, 
as  he  was  accustomed  to  cite  their  doings  and  sayings  on  all  occasions. 

Thespesio  went  on  to  say  that  it  sufficed  for  a  philosopher  to  be 
uncontaminated  by  any  animal  food,  and  by  the  delight  of  the  eyes,  and 
by  that  envy  which  teaches  hand  and  mind  to  be  unjust,  but  that  the 
truth  has  no  need  of  wonder-working  or  magic.  “Look  at  the  Delphic 
Apollo,  which  in  the  utterance  of  oracles  monopolizes  central  Greece,”  said 
he.  “There,  as  you  know,  any  one  who  asks  a  response  of  the  god  asks  his 
question  in  few  words,  and  Apollo  speaks  what  he  knows,  without  indulg¬ 
ing  in  any  display  of  miracles,  although  he  might  easily  shake  all  Parnassus, 
or  change  the  ‘Castalian  spring  into  wine,  or  turn  back  the  flow  of  the 
Cephisus  river.  He  despises  such  advertising,  and  utters  the  truth  simply. 
Let  us  not  suppose  that  gold  and  splendid  gifts  come  to  his  shrine  because 
he  craves  such  votive  offerings ;  or  that  twice  as  large  a  temple  would  give 
him  more  delight  than  the  one  he  has.  Once  this  god  dwelt  under  a  humble 
roof,  a  little  cabin  which  was  built  for  him  by  bees  piling  up  wax,  and 
birds  bringing  feathers.  Frugality  is  the  teacher  of  wisdom  and  the  teacher 
of  truth,  and  if  you  follow  that  you  will  show  yourself  really  wise,  and  you 
will  forget  the  fables  which  you  heard  among  the  Indians.  Such  expres¬ 
sions  as  ‘do  this’  or  ‘do  it  not ;’  ‘I  know,’  or  ‘I  do  not  know ;’  ‘this  thing  but 
not  that;’  what  need  have  they  of  stage-tricks?  Not  the  thunderclap,  but 
the  lightning-smitten  mind  I  Among  other  paintings,  you  have  seen  the 
Hercules  of  Prodicus,  where  Hercules  is  represented  as  a  youth  who  has 
not  yet  chosen  his  way  of  life ;  with  Pleasure  and  Virtue  each  pulling  at 
him,  to  draw  him  iri  her  direction.  Pleasure,  with  rosy  cheeks  and  curly 
hair  and  painted  eyes,  is  adorned  with  gold  and  necklaces  and  purple  robe ; 
and  with  golden  sandals  in  which  she  is  depicted  as  dancing ;  while  Virtue 
is  represented  as  worn-out,  harsh-visaged,  with  squalor  in  place  of  adorn¬ 
ment,  unshod,  thinly  clad,  nay,  she  would  be  shown  naked,  if  the  artist 
were  not  mindful  of  the  dignity  due  to  womanhood.  Imagine  yourself 
now,  Apollonius,  to  be  standing  between  the  Indian  wisdom  and  that  of 
our  own  land,  and  that  you  hear  that  other  one  promising  that  she  will 
spread  flowers  under  you  to  sleep  on,  and  will  give  you  milk  to  drink,  by 
Zeus !  and  will  feed  you  on  honey-comb,  and  that  you  may  expect  nectar 
from  her,  and  wings  whenever  you  like,  and  that  she  will  wheel  in  tripods 
for  your  drinking,  and  golden  thrones,  and  that  everything  will  come  to  you 
of  its  own  accord,  without  any  exertion  of  yours.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
befits  our  philosophy  that  your  bed  shall  be  on  the  bare  ground,  and  that 
you  live  by  labor,  naked  like  us,  so  that  nothing  unearned  by  your  own 


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efforts  will  seem  either  sweet  or  worth  having ;  and  that  you  must  be  no 
braggart,  nor  seeker  after  notoriety,  and  must  abstain  even  in  your  dreams 
from  visions  which  exalt  you  above  the  earth.  But  if  you  shall  make  your 
choice  with  diamond-clear  judgment,  as  Hercules  did,  not  scorning  truth, 
nor  rejecting  the  poverty  which  nature  teaches,  then  you  may  boast  that 
you  have  vanquished  many  lions,  beheaded  many  hydras,  slain  many  a 
Geryon  and  a  Nessus,  and  have  outdone  all  his  other  exploits.  If  you  turn 
away,  and  choose  the  conjurers’  side,  you  will  seduce  the  eyes  and  ears  of 
the  multitude^  but  you  will  be  thought  no  wiser  than  anyone  else,  and  you 
will  become  the  spoils  of  war  of  any  naked  philosopher  of  Egypt!” 

11. 

When  he  closed,  all  eyes  were  turned  on  Apollonius,  his  disciples 
being  certain  that  he  would  demolish  the  speaker,  and  those  of  Thespesio 
wondering  what  he  could  find  to  say.  After  complimenting  the  orator  on 
his  fluency  and  force,  he  asked:  “Have  you  anything  more  to  add?”  The 
other  replied :  “Nothing.  I  have  said  my  say and  on  Apollonius  asking, 
“Has  any  other  Egyptian  anything  to  say?”  Thespesio  replied :  “You  have 
heard  them  all  by  my  voice.”  Then  after  a  short  pause,  and  fixing  his  eyes 
on  what  had  been  said,  Apollonius  began  thus : 

“Ye  Sages  of  Egypt,  what  Prodicus  shows  the  youthful  Hercules  to 
have  done,  when  the  choice  was  offered  to  him,  has  been  vividly  described 
to  you  with  philosophic  penetration,  but  it  does  not  apply  to  me.  I  have 
not  come  here  to  consult  you  on  the  choice  of  a  plan  of  life,  for  long  ago 
I  chose  for  myself  the  plan  which  most  appealed  to  me.  Being  the  oldest 
here  except  Thespesio,  I  might  rather  be  the  one  to  select  a  system  of 
philosophy  for  all  of  you,  if  I  had  not  found  that  you  had  already  made 
your  choice.  But  notwithstanding  my  age,  and  my  progress  in  knowledge, 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  submit  to  your  judgment  the  correctness  of  my  choice, 
by  explaining  to  you  those  doctrines  which  are  the  best  I  have  ever  dis¬ 
covered.  I  found  something  sublime  in  the  teachings  of  Pythagoras,  that 
through  his  inner  consciousness  he  knew  himself  as  he  was,  and  also  knew 
who  he  had  been ;  and  that  he  came  to  the  altars  pure ;  and  that  he  kept 
his  body  undefiled  by  animal  food  and  clean  of  any  clothing  derived  from 
mortal  creatures;  and  that  first  of  all  men  he  originated  the  practice  of 
taciturnity  by  curbing  his  tongue  as  if  he  had  set  an  ox  upon  it ;  and  that 
in  every  way  he  had  established  k  sound  and  inspired  system  of  philosophy. 
Wherefore  I  hastened  to  embrace  his  principles ;  not  selecting  one  of  two 
systems,  as  you  urge  me  to  do,  most  excellent  Thespesio,  for  philosophy 
spread  before  me  all  her  theories  of  every  kind,  each  arrayed  in  its  own 
attractions,  and  she  commanded  me  to  examine  them  all,  and  to  make  my 
selection  with  care.  All  of  them  were  so  deeply  and  divinely  beautiful  that 


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each  of  them  might  dazzle  anyone;  but  I  fixed  my  eyes  intently  on  each 
one,  and  they  themselves  encouraged  me  by  drawing  me  toward  them  and 
promising  me  what  they  would  give.  One  of  them  said  that  without  any 
effort  of  mine  she  would  pour  out  on  me  an  endless  stream  of  delights. 
Another  promised  peace  after  striving.  Another  that  she  would  mingle 
toil  and  joy.  Everywhere  glittered  pleasures,  and  a  loose  rein  to  appetites, 
and  a  hand  outstretched  with  riches,  and  no  withholding  of  the  eyes,  but 
loves  and  desires  and  all  such  temptations  were  laid  before  me.  But  there 
was  one  of  them  who  demanded  for  herself  the  rejection  of  all  that,  and 
she  was  bold,  and  sharp-tongued,  and  elbowed  all  the  rest  aside.  In  her  I 
recognized  the  unutterable  vision  of  that  wisdom  by  which  Pythagoras  in 
his  day  had  been  enthralled.  She  did  not  stand  crowded  with  the  others, 
but  apart  and  mute,  and  when  she  saw  that  I  did  not  yield  to  their  induce¬ 
ments,  and  did  not  yet  know  hers,  she  said :  ‘Young  man,  I  am  distasteful, 
and  filled  with  privations.  To  reach  my  abode,  you  must  elect  to  shun 
every  table  set  with  animal  food,  and  to  forget  wine  entirely,  that  you  may 
not  cloud  the  goblet  of  wisdom  which  is  poured  for  the  minds  of  total 
abstainers ;  nor  will  you  wish  for  any  blanket,  nor  for  wool  shorn  from 
living  things ;  though  I  do  allow  you  bark  sandals,  and  whatever  couch 
may  happen.  If  I  should  find  you  enslaved  by  lusts,  I  have  abysses  into 
which  justice,  the  servant  of  knowledge,  will  drive  and  thrust  you;  and 
I  am  so  rigid  with  those  who  devote  themselves  to  me  that  I  even  have 
gags  ready  for  their  tongues.  Learn  from  me  now  what  rewards  shall 
be  yours  if  you  endure  so  far.  Instinctive  self-control ;  uprightness ;  envy 
of  none;  to  terrify  tyrants  instead  of  submitting  to  them;  to  have  your 
simple  sacrifices  seem  more  acceptable  to  the  gods  than  the  shedding  of 
bulls’  blood  for  them  by  others ;  and  when  you  shall  have  become  purified, 
I  will  impart  to  you  the  knowledge  of  future  events ;  and  I  will  so  en¬ 
lighten,  your  eyes  that  you  will  discern  God,  and  know  the  demi-gods, 
and  exorcise  those  shadowy  phantoms  which  assume  the  shapes  of 
men.’  This  is  why  I  chose  that  way  of  living,  ye  Sages  of  Egypt,  and 
having  strictly  followed  it  under  the  guidance  of  Pythagoras,  I  have 
neither  deluded  others,  nor  been  myself  deluded.  For  I  have  become  what 
one  should  be  who  devotes  himself  to  that  philosophy,  and  I  have  obtained 
all  those  rewards  which  she  promised  me  as  her  disciple. 

“In  meditating  on  the  origin  of  art,  and  the  beginnings  whence  it  came, 
I  traced  it  to  men  most  deeply  imbued  with  knowledge  of  the  gods,  and  who 
had  best  explored  the  soul,  whose  springs  of  being  are  the  eternal  and  the 
unbegotten.  This  description  did  not  seem  to  fit  the  Athenians,  for  they 
have  corrupted  those  teachings  of  Plato  on  the  soul  which  he  delivered  to 
them  with  such  inspired  wisdom,  and  they  have  adopted  views  on  that 
subject  which  are  opposed  to  his,  and  not  at  all  sound.  So  I  cast  about  for 


158 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


whatever  city  or  race  of  men  there  might  be,  among  whom  not  here  and 
there  a  man,  but  all  of  every  age  would  think  alike  about  the  soul. 
Thus,  led  by  my  youth  and  lack  of  information,  I  turned  my  eyes  toward 
you,  who  were  reported  to  be  marvellously  wise  on  every  subject.  I  men¬ 
tioned  that  idea  to  my  preceptor,  but  he  discouraged  it  by  saying:  Tf  you 
were  a  lover,  or  likely  to  be,  and  you  should  meet  a  handsome  youth,  and 
being  struck  by  his  beauty  you  should  ask  him  who  his  father  was,  and  he 
should  tell  you  that  he  was  a  general  and  a  breeder  of  race-horses,  and  that 
his  grandfathers  were  chorus-leaders ;  but  notwithstanding  his  statements 
you  should  insist  that  his  father  was  the  captain  of  a  trireme,  or  a  phylarch, 
do  you  suppose  that  your  favorite  would  be  won  over  by  that?  Would  he 
not  rather  dislike  you  for  denying  his  parentage,  and  for  giving  him  an 
alien  and  spurious  ancestry?  In  the  same  fashion,  you  are  in  love  with 
knowledge  which  the  Indians  have  developed,  and  you  do  not  call  it  after 
its  natural  parents,  but  after  those  who  are  only  its  parents  by  adoption; 
and  you  are  ascribing  to  the  Egyptians  more  excellence  than  if,  as  their 
song  says,  the  Nile  flowed  upward  to  them  mixed  with  honey!’  This 
advice  took  me  to  the  Indians  before  coming  to  you,  in  the  belief  that  men 
like  them  were  more  subtle  in  intellect,  and  enjoyed  a  clearer  light,  and 
thought  more  accurately  of  nature  and  of  the  gods,  because  they  were 
closer  to  the  divine,  and  dwelt  near  the  warm  and  vivifying  essence  of  life. 
When  I  had  met  them,  their  revelations  affected  me  as  the  genius  of 
yEschylus  is  said  to  have  affected  the  Athenians.  This  tragic  poet,  flnding 
his  art  in  a  crude  and  unregulated  condition,  brought  the  distant  choruses 
to  the  front  of  the  stage,  eliminated  prolix  soliloquies  of  actors  by  substi¬ 
tuting  explanatory  dialogue,  and  made  the  innovation  that  his  characters 
should  die  behind  the  scenes,  so  that  murder  would  not  be  committed  before 
the  audience.  It  might  seem  that  improvements  such  as  these  could  have 
occurred  to  a  less  gifted  poet,  but  he  should  not  be  denied  the  credit  of 
wisdom  even  in  this.  Then  taking  thought  of  his  own  style,  so  that  his 
utterances  should  be  suited  to  tragedy;  and  taking  thought  of  his  art,  how 
it  might  aspire  to  sublimity,  instead  of  being  scoffed  at  and  trampled  under 
foot,  he  invented  masks  which  portrayed  the  countenances  of  heroes,  and 
set  his  actors  on  buskins  so  that  they  might  stalk  like  the  personages  they 
represented,  and  he  was  the  first  to  clothe  his  heroes  and  heroines  in  cos¬ 
tumes  suitable  for  their  characters.  The  result  was  that  the  Athenians 
called  him  the  Father  of  Tragedy,  and  even  after  his  death  they  invited 
him  to  the  Dionysia,  for  by  public  vote  his  plays  were  brought  again  upon 
the  stage,  and  again  he  won  the  prize.  Now  the  pleasure  of  tragedy  is 
short-lived,  however  well  it  may  be  presented,  for  it  gives  delight  no 
longer  than  the  narrow  space  of  one  day,  and  that  only  at  the  season  of 
the  Dionysia ;  but  the  pleasure  derived  from  philosophy,  under  the  system 


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established  by  Pythagoras,  and  gifted  with  such  divination  as  the  Indians 
practiced  before  Pythagoras,  is  not  transitory,  but  unending  and  incal¬ 
culable.  Wherefore  I  feel  that  I  have  not  paid  too  dearly  for  my  devotion 
to  that  well-rounded  philosophy,  which  the  Indian  Sages  wheel  out,  after 
mounting  it  suitably  on  a  lofty  and  divine  pedestal.  How  just  my  admira¬ 
tion  for  them  is,  and  my  estimate  of  their  wisdom,  and  their  blessedness, 
it  is  now  time  to  tell  you.  I  found  them  to  be  men  living  on  the  earth  and 
yet  not  on  the  earth ;  defended  without  walls ;  possessing  nothing,  yet 
having  the  wealth  of  all  the  world.  If  I  am  speaking  in  enigmas,  it  is 
allowable  by  the  philosophy  of  Pythagoras,  which  permits  riddles  because 
he  found  that  they  encourage  taciturnity.  You  yourselves  became  the 
disciples  and  upholders  of  Pythagoras,  when  you  adopted  ,the  doctrines  of 
the  Indians.  Long  ago  you  were  Indian,  too,  but  being  ashamed  of  the 
reason  for  which  the  anger  of  your  land  drove  you  hither,  you  wished  to 
be  thought  anything  rather  than  Ethiopians  coming  from  India,  and  you 
did  all  you  could  to  disguise  that  fact.  You  discarded  all  the  garments  you 
had  brought  with  you,  as  though  with  your  clothes  you  could  do  away 
with  being  Ethiopians,  and  you  decided  to  worship  the  gods  in  Egyptian 
fashion,  rather  than  by  your  ancestral  rites ;  and  you  deliberately  set  about 
disparaging  the  Indians,  so  that  you  might  not  be  suspected  of  coming 
from  them,  if  you  calumniated  them.  You  have  not  abandoned  this  bad 
habit  yet,  for  this  very  day  you  have  given  a  sample  of  it,  full  of  insult 
and  ridicule,  by  asserting  that  the  Indian  Sages  have  discovered  nothing 
valuable,  but  merely  stage-tricks,  and  delusions  of  eye  or  ear ;  and  when 
you  know  nothing  as  yet  of  my  philosophy,  you  exhibit  your  want  of  sense 
by  expressing  your  opinion  of  it.  I  shall  say  nothing  on  my  own  behalf, 
for  I  wish  to  be  what  the  Indians  think  me;  but  I  will  not  allow  you  to 
assail  them,  and  if  you  really  have  any  of  the  wisdom  of  the  man  from 
Himera  (Stesichorus),  who  when  he  sang  an  ode  to  Helen,  contradicting 
one  which  he  had  sung  before,  called  it  a  palinode,  or  recantation,  you  also 
would  say  instantly :  ‘that  speech  of  mine  is  not  true !’  and  you  would  cor¬ 
rect  your  previous  opinion  of  those  Sages.  But  if  you  are  to  be  slower  than 
that  in  singing  your  palinode,  you  should  at  least  spare  your  invectives 
against  those  holy  men,  whom  the  gods  endow  with  their  own  attributes, 
and  who  have  not  disowned  those  gifts. 

“You  said  something  about  the  Delphic  oracle,  Thespesio ;  how  simply 
and  without  accessories  it  utters  its  responses ;  and  you  gave  as  an  illus¬ 
tration  the  temple  built  of  wax  and  feathers.  Those  materials  do  not  seem 
to  me  to  have  been  thrown  together  without  an  architect,  for  the  god  who 
was  making  the  house  and  its  plan,  as  his  own  builder,  issued  the  order : 
‘Bring  feathers,  you  birds,  and  wax,  you  bees !’  Then  deeming  those 
materials  too  scanty  and  inadequate  to  do  justice  to  his  skill,  as  I  suppose. 


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he  required  another  temple,  and  another,  extending  hundreds  of  feet  in 
frontage,  in  one  of  which  he  is  said  to  have  hung  golden  wrynecks,  en¬ 
dowed  with  some  persuasion  of  the  Sirens.  At  Delphi  he  has  accumulated 
the  most  famous  of  votive  offerings  to  adorn  his  shrine,  nor  does  he 
scorn  the  sculptor’s  art,  which  has  brought  colossal  statues  for  his  temples, 
some  of  gods,  some  of  men,  some  of  horses  and  bulls  and  other  animals. 
Then  there  is  depicted  Glaucus*  coming  with  a  goblet-tray,  and  the  taking 
of  Troy’s  citadel  painted  on  the  wall  by  Polygnotus.  I  suppose  he  did  not 
think  Lydian  gold  necessary  as  an  ornament  for  the  Delphic  temple, 
but  he  brought  it  there,  for  the  sake  of  the  Greeks  probably,  to  show  them 
the  wealth  of  the  barbarians,  so  that  they  might  go  after  that  instead  of 
devastating  each  other’s  fields.  He  has  made  use  of  Grecian  decoration  as 
well,  wherewith  to  glorify  Delphi  as  befits  his  wisdom.  It  must  have  been 
for  the  purpose  of  effect  that  he  turns  the  responses  of  his  oracle  into 
metrical  verse;  for  otherwise  he  would  give  his  answers  in  the  style  you 
indicate, — ‘do  this,’  or  ‘do  it  not ;’  ‘go,’  or  ‘go  not ;’  ‘make  the  treaty,’  or  ‘do 
not  make  it.’  These  utterances  would  be  brief,  or  as  you  say,  even  naked. 
But  that  he  may  appear  to  speak  majestically,  and  more  as  his  suppliants 
imagine  a  god  would  speak,  he  has  chosen  the  poetic  form ;  and  not  because 
it  is  suited  to  conceal  his  ignorance,  for  he  says  that  he  knows  the  number 
of  grains  of  sand,  having  counted  them  all,  and  that  he  has  by  heart  all 
the  dimensions  of  the  sea.  Do  you  reckon  all  these  embellishments  as 
charlatanry  then,  Thespesio,  when  Apollo  gravely  and  proudly  displays 
them?  If  I  may  say  it  without  offense,  even  those  old  women  with  sieves 
who  hang  about  shepherds  and  herdsmen,  telling  them  that  they  can  cure 
their  sickly  flocks  by  witchcraft,  wish  to  be  called  wise-women,  wiser  in 
fact  than  genuine  diviners ;  and  you  seem  to  me  very  much  like  them,  when 
I  compare  your  knowledge  with  that  of  the  Indian  Sages,  who  are  god¬ 
like  and  honored  like  the  Delphic  oracle,  while  you ! !— But  I  will  say  no 
more,  for  I  love  moderation  in  words  as  they  do,  and  I  will  respect  it  as 
both  the  servant  and  the  ruler  of  my  tongue,  striving  to  say  what  is  in  my 
power  with  their  commendation  and  love,  and  leaving  untouched  by  detrac¬ 
tion  the  heights  which  I  cannot  attain.  You  are  pleased  with  the  fable  you 
have  read  in  Homer’s  story  of  the  Cyclops  that  the  earth  feeds  those  most 
savage  and  lawless  beings  without  sowing,  or  cultivation ;  and  you  do  not 
doubt  that  if  some  Edonians  or  Lydians  become  bacchantes  the  earth  will 
yield  them  springs  of  milk  and  wine  to  give  them  drink;  and  yet  would 
you  take  away  from  those  Sages,  who  revel  in  all  knowledge,  the  gifts 
which  come  freely  to  them  from  the  ground?  Self-moving  tripods  roll 
into  the  banquets  of  the  gods  too,  and  Mars,  rough  and  ill-disposed  as  he 
is,  has  never  yet  vilified  Vulcan  for  making  them,  nor  have  the  gods  ever 
heard  such  an  accusation  as:  ‘Vulcan,  it  is  a  sin  for  you  to  beautify  the 


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feasts  of  the  immortals,  and  to  surround  them  with  miracles !’  Nor  has  he 
ever  been  arrested  for  fabricating  his  golden  waiting-maids,  because  he 
had  spoiled  the  metal  by  breathing  life  into  it.  Every  art  seeks  embellish¬ 
ment,  since  the  very  existence  of  art  originated  in  the  desire  to  adorn.  It 
has  even  been  thought  decorative  for  a  philosopher  to  go  barefoot,  and  to 
wear  a  threadbare  cloak,  and  to  carry  a  wallet.  Going  naked,  as  you  do, 
requires  a  clout,  which,  however  small  and  simple,  is  worn  after  all  as 
dress,  and  does  not  differ  in  principle  from  that  other  extreme  which  they 
call  display.  So  far  as  the  Sun  is  concerned,  and  the  Indian  Sages’  tra¬ 
ditional  ways  of  worshipping  him,  and  how  he  may  prefer  to  be  wor¬ 
shipped,  let  those  'questions  settle  themselves.  Earth-gods  love  pits,  and 
cavern-ceremonies ;  but  the  Sun’s  chariot  is  the  air,  and  those  who  seek 
to  adore  him  rightly  should  be  raised  above  the  ground  when  they  sing, 
and  should  float  with  the  god  above  the  earth:  something  we  would  alf 
like  to  do,  but  only  the  Indian  Sages  can.” 

12. 

Damis  says  that  he  drew  a  long  breath  when  Apollonius  closed,  and 
that  the  Egyptians  were  so  agitated  that  Thespesio,  black  as  he  was, 
blushed  vividly,  and  the  others  showed  their  consternation  at  the  bold  and 
eloquent  words  which  they  had  listened  to;  but  Nilus,  the  youngest  of 
them,  was  so  carried  away  with  admiration  that  he  leapt  to  his  feet,  and 
ran  to  Apollonius  with  outstretched  hand,  and  begged  him  to  tell  of  his 
conferences  with  the  Sages.  Apollonius  replied  to  him :  shall  grudge  you 

no  information,  for  I  perceive  that  you  are  teachable  and  eager  to  learn  all 
you  can.”  He  was  unwilling  however  to  pump  what  he  had  learned  from 
the  Indians  upon  Thespesio,  or  anyone  who  had  called  their  wisdom  non¬ 
sense  ;  until  finally  Thespesio  said  to  him :  ‘Tf  you  were  a  trader,  or  a  ship- 
man,  who  had  brought  wares  from  there,  would  you  expect  to  sell  them  to 
us  on  the  strength  of  their  coming  from  India,  without  letting  us  see  them 
or  giving  us  a  taste,  or  showing  a  sample?”  Apollonius  answered:  ‘T 
would  show  them  to  any  who  really  cared  to  see  them ;  but  if  a  man  came 
to  the  seashore  as  soon  as  I  landed  and  disparaged  my  wares,  stigmatizing 
them  as  imports  from  a  country  which  produced  nothing  worth  buying, 
and  he  abused  me  moreover  for  bringing  such  a  cargo  of  trash,  and  he 
induced  all  the  rest  to  agree  with  him,  would  not  I  or  anyone  else  who  had 
anchored  or  moored  his  ship  in  such  a  harbor  cast  her  loose  at  once,  and 
put  to  sea  with  all  sail  spread,  preferring  to  commit  his  fortunes  to  the 
winds,  rather  than  to  the  ignorance  and  rudeness  of  such  men?”  “But, 
captain,”  said  Nilus,  “I  am  clutching  at  your  cable  and  begging  you  for 
some  of  the  wares  which  you  have  brought ;  or  rather,  let  me  come  aboard 
to  serve  as  a  deckhand,  or  a  watchman  of  your  cargo.” 


162 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


13. 

In  the  effort  to  check  such  suggestions,  Thespesio  said :  ^‘Apollonius, 
I  am  glad  that  you  resent  what  you  have  heard,  for  in  that  case  you  will 
more  readily  excuse  us  for  also  resenting  your  criticisms  of  our  knowledge, 
which  you  uttered  before  you  knew  anything  about  it.”  Apollonius  was 
somewhat  puzzled  by  this  remark,  for  he  was  not  yet  aware  of  the  machina¬ 
tions  of  Euphrates  and  Thrasybulus,  but  intuitively  seizing  on  the  fact,  as 
he  always  did,  he  said :  “Such  a  thing  could  never  have  occurred  with  the 
Indians,  Thespesio.  They  would  never  have  listened  to  such  insinuations 
from  Euphrates,  for  those  Sages  know  things  beforehand.  I  have  never 
given  Euphrates  any  just  cause  of  complaint,  but  evidently  he  has  found 
my  advice  neither  pleasing  nor  easy  to  follow,  when  I  warned  him  against 
cupidity,  and  his  eagerness  to  make  money  out  of  philosophy.  He  took  that 
as  an  insult,  and  he  has  never  missed  an  opportunity  to  injure  me.  As  you 
have  credited  his  false  reports  of  my  intentions  toward  you,  I  must  tell  you 
that  he  slandered  you  before  ever  he  slandered  me.  The  person  slandered 
runs  no  small  risk,  in  my  opinion,  because  he  will  be  disliked  when  he  is 
entirely  innocent;  but  there  is  no  question  about  those  who  give  ear  to 
slander,  for  they  convict  themselves,  in  the  first  place,  of  partiality  for 
falsehood,  and  of  setting  as  high  a  value  on  it  as  on  the  truth ;  and  next, 
of  inclination  to  gossip  and  credulity,  which  are  disgraceful  weaknesses 
even  in  the  young;  and  finally  they  show  that  they  are  envious,  because 
listening  to  calumny  is  induced  by  envy,  and  they  are  more  guilty  of 
slander  than  the  slanderer  himself  when  they  believe  his  backbiting  to  be 
true  of  others.  Men  are  naturally  more  ready  to  do  things  which  they  do 
not  disbelieve  concerning  others.  No  man  of  such  tendencies  should  obtain 
power  or  rule  the  people,  for  under  him  even  a  free  republic  becomes  a 
tyranny;  nor  should  he  be  a  judge,  for  he  will  decide  no  case  properly; 
nor  command  a  vessel,  for  the  crew  will  mutiny ;  nor  lead  an  army,  for  his 
adversary  will  defeat  him;  nor  try  to  be  a  philosopher,  for  with  such  a 
disposition  he  will  reach  no  sound  opinions.  Euphrates  has  robbed  you  of 
something  too, — your  reputation  for  wisdom.  How  can  anyone  who  has 
trusted  his  lies  claim  credit  for  wisdom,  when  they  have  shown  their  lack 
of  it  by  believing  his  incredible  statements?”  Then  Thespesio  said,  to 
soothe  him:  “Enough  of  Euphrates  and  of  his  rascality!  We  will  try 
to  reconcile  you  with  him,  for  we  reckon  it  the  part  of  wisdom  to  remove 
controversies  between  wise  men.  But  who  will  reconcile  you  with  me,  for 
a  slandered  person  must  necessarily  be  angered  by  the  lies?”  “Say  no 
more  !”  replied  Apollonius.  “Let  us  discuss  some  serious  question,  by  which 
we  will  the  sooner  be  made  friends.” 


BOOK  SIX 


163 


14. 

As  Nilus  was  very  eager  to  listen  to  the  Master,  he  said:  “It  certainly 
is  a  good  way  for  you  to  begin  the  discussion  by  telling  us  of  the  journey 
which  you  made  to  the  people  of  India,  and  the  discussions  which  you 
must  have  had  thereon  fascinating  subjects.”  Thespesio  said:  “I  too  wish 
very  much  to  hear  of  the  wisdom  of  Phraotes,  for  you  are  said  to  bring 
from  India  some  beautiful  extracts  from  his  conversations.”  Thereupon, 
beginning  with  his  experiences  in  Babylon,  Apollonius  gave  them  a  full 
account  of  his  journey,  and  they  listened  with  delight,  under  the  spell  of 
his  story.  At  noon,  however,  they  broke  up  the  conference,  for  at  that 
hour  the  Gymnosophists  too  engage  in  religious  ceremonies. 

15. 

While  Apollonius  and  his  party  were  at  supper,  Nilus  came  to  them 
with  vegetables,  rolls  and  dried  fruits,  which  were  carried  partly  by  him¬ 
self  and  partly  by  others,  and  he  said  very  politely :  “The  Sages  send  you 
these  tokens  of  hospitality;  and  they  have  sent  them  to  me  as  well,  for  I 
will  sup  with  you,  but  not  without  an  invitation  because  I  am  inviting 
myself,  as  the  saying  goes.”  “You  bring  a  very  delightful  gift  of  hospi¬ 
tality,  my  boy,”  replied  Apollonius :  “yourself  and  your  disposition,  for 
you  are  manifestly  an  honest  thinker,  and  you  love  the  precepts  of  the 
Indian  Sages  and  of  Pythagoras ;  so  lie  down  here  by  me  and  eat  with  us.” 
“I  will  lie  down,”  said  Nilus,  “but  you  will  not  have  food  enough  to  satisfy 
me.”  “You  must  be  very  voracious,  and  of  a  mighty  appetite,”  said  Apol¬ 
lonius.  “The  very  mightiest,”  rejoined  Nilus,  “for  no  matter  how  ample 
or  how  savory  the  fare  may  be  which  you  set  before  me  I  shall  not  be 
sated  by  it,  but  in  a  few  minutes  will  come  to  get  another  supper.  What 
else  can  you  call  me  but  insatiable  and  greedy?”  “Fill  yourself  up  then,” 
said  Apollonius;  “furnish  part  of  the  subjects  for  conversation  yourself, 
and  I  will  supply  my  share.” 

16. 

After  supper  Nilus  said:  “Hitherto  I  have  marched  under  the 
banner  of  the  Gymnosophists,  very  much  as  if  I  had  enlisted  in  a  corps 
of  archers  or  slingers ;  but  now  I  shall  put  on  heavy  armor,  and  bear  your 
device  on  my  shield.”  “But,  my  Egyptian,”  Apollonius  replied,  “I  fear  that 
Thespesio  and  the  others  will  reproach  you  with  deserting  from  their 
camp  to  ours  more  hastily  than  befits  the  choice  of  a  life  work,  and  without 
knowing  much  about  us.”  “No  doubt  they  will,”  said  Nilus.  “If  I  am  to 
be  blamed  for  having  chosen,  perhaps  I  would  also  be  blamed  for  not 
choosing;  and  they  will  be  most  blameworthy  when  they  choose  what  I  do. 
For  if  they,  who  are  older  and  wiser,  have  not  already  chosen  like  me, 
when  they  have  more  to  gain  by  it,  they  will  justly  incur  the  greater  blame, 


164 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


because  they  have  not  chosen  the  better  part.”  ‘‘That  is  no  narrow-minded 
sentiment,  young  man,”  said  Apollonius,  “but,  for  the  very  reason  that  they 
have  such  age  and  wisdom,  you  should  question  whether  they  may  not  have 
been  right  in  choosing  as  they  have  done,  and  in  rejecting  the  other  course 
which  you  prefer;  and  whether  you  yourself  may  not  be  too  rash,  in 
setting  up  your  own  opinion  against  theirs.”  Quite  unexpectedly  to  Apol¬ 
lonius  the  youth  made  this  reply:  “I  have  not  been  lacking  in  any 
deference  due  from  a  young  man  to  his  elders,  and  while  I  believed  them 
wiser  than  other  men  I  have  followed  their  guidance.  I  will  tell  you  how 
I  was  led  to  join  them.  My  father  once  sailed  the  Erythraean  Sea  as  the 
volunteer  master  of  the  ship  which  the  Egyptians  send  to  India,  and  from 
conversations  which  he  had  with  Indians  living  on  the  coast,  concerning 
the  Sages  of  that  country,  he  told  me  very  much  the  same  of  them  as  you 
have.  What  he  said  was  substantially  that  those  Sages  were  the  wisest 
men  in  the  world,  and  that  the  Ethiopians  had  been  originally  immigrants 
to  Egypt  from  India,  and  still  cherished  the  knowledge  handed  down  to 
them  by  their  ancestors,  keeping  their  eyes  fixed  upon  that  fatherland  of 
theirs.  So  I  came  naked  to  these  naked  philosophers  while  still  a  boy ;  and 
I  resigned  my  share  of  my  father’s  property  to  those  who  wanted  it,  asking 
only  to  learn  the  wisdom  of  the  Indian  Sages,  or  at  least  its  twin  here. 
These  men  did  in  fact  seem  wise  to  me,  though  not  so  wise  as  I  had 
imagined  the  Indians  to  be,  and  when  I  asked  them  why  they  did  not  teach 
the  philosophy  of  the  Indian  Sages,  they  began  to  revile  them  in  quite  the 
same  way  that  they  did  to  you  today.  They  admitted  me  into  their  fellow¬ 
ship  while  I  was  very  young,  as  you  see ;  probably  because  they  feared  that 
I  would  abandon  them,  in  order  to  sail  the  Erythraean  Sea  like  my  father 
before  me :  and  by  the  gods !  I  would  not  have  failed  to  do  so,  for  it  was 
in  my  mind  to  find  my  way  somehow  to  the  Sages’  hill.  But  now  some 
deity  has  sent  you  here  to  rescue  me,  so  that  I  may  absorb  the  wisdom  of 
the  Indians  without  crossing  the  sea  or  chumming  with  sailors.  This  selec¬ 
tion  of  my  mode  of  life  was  not  made  today.  I  made  it  long  ago,  although 
this  way  of  obtaining  it  is  not  what  I  had  expected.  Fancy  a  hunter  turning 
back,  when  he  is  on  the  point  of  overtaking  his  quarry!  Now  if  I  bring 
them  before  you  here,  and  endeavor  to  persuade  them  to  adopt  the  same 
opinions  as  I  have,  tell  me  what  precipitancy  there  will  be  in  that.  Youth 
should  not  bar  me  from  doing  so,  and  is  a  better  adviser  than  old  age  in 
such  changes.  The  man  who  recommends  to  another  the  philosophy  which 
he  himself  has  embraced,  is  not  liable  to  the  charge  of  urging  on  him 
something  which  he  does  not  believe ;  but  the  man  who  selfishly  keeps  his 
blessings  to  himself,  wrongs  those  blessings  when  he  prevents  many  others 
from  enjoying  them.” 


BOOK  SIX 


165 


17. 

Replying  to  this  impetuous  outburst  of  Nilus,  Apollonius  said:  “As 
you  wish  to  get  knowledge  from  me,  will  you  not  first  bargain  with  me 
about  the  tuition-fee?”  “I  am  ready  to  bargain,”  said  Nilus,  “name  your 
terms.”  Apollonius  said :  “My  terms  are  that  you  may  follow  the  choice 
you  have  made,  but  that  you  do  not  irritate  the  Gymnosophists  by  advice 
which  you  can  not  persuade  them  to  adopt.”  “I  will  obey  you,”  said 
Nilus,  “so  let  that  promise  be  my  entrance-fee.”  That  being  settled,  Nilus 
asked  how  long  he  would  remain  with  the  Gymnosophists,  to  which 
Apollonius  replied :  “As  long  as  their  wisdom  is  sufficient  for  their  visitor. 
After  that  we  will  make  our  way  to  the  Cataracts,  in  search  of  the  sources 
of  the  Nile.  I  would  like  not  only  to  see  the  beginnings  of  the  river,  but  to 
hear  its  roaring.” 

18. 

After  this  conversation,  and  some  reminiscences  of  India,  they  fell 
asleep  on  the  grass,  and  when  they  had  offered  the  usual  prayers  at  dawn, 
Nilus  led  them  to  Thespesio.  They  exchanged  salutations  with  him,  and 
all  took  seats  in  the  grove  and  began  a  discussion,  Apollonius  being  the 
first  speaker.  He  said:  “Yesterday’s  conversations  show  how  desirable  it 
is  not  to  make  a  secret  of  our  knowledge.  Having  learned  from  the  Indians 
as  much  of  their  wisdom  as  I  thought  requisite  for  me,  I  am  grateful  to 
my  teachers  and  go  about  everywhere  imparting  to  others  what  I  have 
received  from  them.  In  the  same  way  I  will  be  of  service  to  you,  if  you 
too  send  me  away  instructed  in  your  knowledge,  for  I  shall  never  cease 
to  quote  your  opinions  everywhere  to  the  Greeks,  and  to  write  them  to 
the  Indians.”  “Ask  what  you  will  then,”  said  the  Gymnosophists ;  “learn¬ 
ing  everywhere  is  the  result  of  inquiry.” 

19. 

Then  said  Apollonius :  “I  will  ask  you  first  about  the  gods.  What 
lesson  have  you  sought  to  inculcate  by  giving  to  the  natives  hereabouts 
images  of  the  gods  which,  with  few  exceptions,  are  absurd  and  ridiculous  ? 
Indeed  hardly  any  of  them  have  been  made  artistically,  and  such  as  gods 
should  be ;  and  the  rest  of  your  temples  exhibit  a  worship  of  dumb  and 
senseless  animals  instead  of  gods.”  Thespesio  replied  indignantly:  “In 
what  way  would  you  say  that  such  images  are  made  in  your  own  country  ?” 
“They  are  made  to  give  the  most  beautiful  and  reverential  representation 
of  the  deities,”  said  Apollonius;  and  Thespesio  said:  “Perhaps  you  are 
referring  to  the  Olympian  Zeus,  and  the  statue  of  Athene,  and  the  Cnidian 
Aphrodite,  and  the  Juno  of  Argos,  and  other  masterpieces  of  beauty  and  of 
grace  like  those.”  Apollonius  replied  :  “Not  only  to  them  ;  but  my  conten¬ 
tion  is  that  in  every  other  country  but  Egypt  the  sculptor’s  art  has  attained 


166 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


a  suitable  dignity,  whereas  you  caricature  the  gods,  instead  of  worshipping 
them.”  Thespesio  asked:  “Did  your  Phidias  and  your  Praxiteles  ascend 
into  heaven  and  sketch  the  gods,  so  that  they  might  reproduce  them  in  the 
highest  style  of  their  art?  Or  did  they  acquire  their  skill  in  representing 
them  by  some  other  method  ?”  “By  another  method,  and  one  abounding  in 
wisdom,”  replied  Apollonius.  “What  can  that  be,  for  you  could  hardly 
name  a  better  one  than  copying  the  original  ?”  asked  Thespesio,  and  Apol¬ 
lonius  answered :  “Imagination,  a  wiser  teacher  than  imitation,  has  created 
those  statues.  Imitation  portrays  what  it  sees,  but  imagination  what  it 
cannot  see,  although  to  embody  its  ideal  it  may  take  nature  as  its  model. 
Then  too,  awe  will  often  interfere  with  imitation,  but  never  with  imagina¬ 
tion,  which  strives  for  its  ideal  unperturbed.  The  artist  who  conceives  a 
figure  of  Zeus  must  imagine  him  as  surrounded  by  the  heavens  and  the 
hours  and  the  stars,  as  Phidias  endeavored  to  do  in  making  his  statue.  He 
who  tries  to  reproduce  Athene  must  conceive  her  as  thinking  of  armies, 
and  of  counsel,  and  of  the  arts,  and  of  her  birth  from  Jove.  But  if  you  take 
into  your  temples  the  likeness  of  a  hawk,  or  an  owl,  or  a  jackal,  or  a 
dog,  in  place  of  Hermes,  and  Athene,  and  Apollo,  such  images  may 
confer  dignity  on  birds  and  beasts,  but  they  degrade  the  gods  far  lower 
than  the  reverence  which  is  their  due.”  Thespesio  said:  “You  are  evi¬ 
dently  passing  judgment  upon  our  system  without  having  investigated  it. 
If  ever  there  was  a  wise  idea,  it  was  that  of  the  Egyptians  in  representing 
the  gods,  that  they  should  not  presumptuously  venture  to  copy  them,  but 
that  they  should  figure  them  symbolically  and  metaphorically,  so  that  they 
may  seem  even  more  august.”  Smiling  at  this,  Apollonius  said :  “My  dear 
sirs,  you  have  gained  a  great  deal  from  the  wisdom  of  the  Egyptians  and  of 
the  Ethiopians  if  a  dog  or  an  ibis  or  a  he-goat  seems  to  you  more  august 
and  commensurate  with  the  divine  majesty  than  statues  of  human  shape 
would  be ;  for  so  I  understand  from  the  wise  Thespesio.  I  ask  you  then, 
what  majesty  or  awfulness  is  there  in  these  shapes?  Perjurers,  and  temple- 
robbers,  and  the  mob  which  hangs  around  altars  for  scraps,  must  certainly 
despise  idols  of  that  sort,  but  never  fear  them.  If  such  figures  are  made 
more  august  by  the  thought  underlying  them,  how  much  more  august  still 
would  the  gods  of  Egypt  become  if  no  images  of  them  were  set  up  at  all. 
You  might  employ  another  more  spiritually-minded  system  of  worshipping 
your  deities,  by  building  temples  to  them  and  setting  up  altars,  which  you 
might  consecrate  or  not  as  you  prefer,  and  whenever,  and  for  as  long  a 
time,  and  with  such  rites  and  ceremonies  as  you  may  prescribe,  but  without 
bringing  into  them  any  statues  whatever.  In  this  way  you  would  leave  the 
imaging  of  the  gods  to  the  fancy  of  the  worshippers  in  the  temples,  and 
imagination  outlines  and  presents  them  better  than  any  art  can  do ;  but 
under  your  system  your  gods  are  not  beautiful,  either  in  art  or  in  fancy.” 


BOOK  SIX 


167 


Thespesio  answered:  “Your  Athenian  Socrates  must  have  been  as  senile 
and  foolish  as  we  are,  for  he  treated  a  dog  and  a  goose  and  a  plane-tree  as 
gods,  and  used  to  swear  by  them.”  Apollonius  said:  “He  was  not  at  all 
foolish,  but  inspired  and  very  wise ;  for  he  did  not  swear  by  them  as  gods, 
but  to  avoid  swearing  by  the  real  gods.” 

20. 

Then,  to  change  the  subject,  Thespesio  asked  Apollonius  concerning 
the  Spartan  scourges,  and  whether  the  Spartans  were  actually  beaten  with 
them  in  public,  and  he  answered :  “Most  vigorously,  Thespesio,  and  they 
beat  the  freest  and  noblest  of  them  all.”  “How  do  they  treat  their  slaves 
then,  when  those  require  punishment?”  asked  Thespesio,  to  which  Apol¬ 
lonius  replied :  “They  no  longer  put  them  to  death,  as  Lycurgus  directed 
in  his  time,  but  they  use  the  same  scourge  on  them  too.”  “What  does  the 
rest  of  Greece  think  of  that?”  asked  Thespesio.  Apollonius  replied:  “They 
gather  there  and  watch  it  done  with  keen  enjoyment,  as  they  collect  for 
the  feast  of  Hyacinthus  or  for  the  Gymnopocdia.”  Thespesio  asked :  “Then 
it  does  not  humiliate  those  worthy  Greeks  to  see  their  former  masters 
publicly  lacerated  with  scourges,  when  they  remember  that  they  themselves 
have  been  ruled  by  the  men  who  are  lashed  before  the  eyes  of  all?  They 
tell  us  that  you  exercised  great  influence  in  Sparta ;  why  did  you  not  abolish 
that  custom?”  Apollonius  answered:  “Whenever  I  saw  a  way  to  change 
anything  for  the  better,  I  used  to  advocate  it,  and  they  readily  acquiesced. 
They  may  be  the  most  independent  of  the  Greeks,  but  they  are  the  only 
Greeks  who  will  follow  good  advice.  Now  the  practice  of  scourging  is 
maintained  in  honor  of  the  Scythian  Diana,  by  direction  of  the  oracles  as 
they  say;  and  I  think  it  madness  to  oppose  the  commands  of  the  gods.” 
Thespesio  said:  “But  surely  you  do  not  ascribe  wisdom  to  the  gods  of 
Greece,  when  you  say  that  they  order  scourging  for  the  lovers  of  liberty?” 
And  Apollonius  answered :  “They  did  not  order  scourging,  but  that 
Diana’s  altar  should  be  sprinkled  with  human  blood ;  which  is  a  tribute 
paid  to  her  among  the  Scythians  as  well.  By  a  shrewd  interpretation  of 
this  inexorable  sacrifice,  the  Spartans  have  reduced  it  to  this  test  of 
endurance,  thus  avoiding  human  slaughter,  but  each  man  sheds  his  blood  in 
honor  of  the  goddess.”  Thespesio  inquired:  “Why  do  they  not  sacrifice 
strangers  to  Diana,  as  the  Scythians  used  to  do?”  “Because  imitation  of 
barbarian  customs  is  foreign  to  the  Greek  character,”  answered  Apol¬ 
lonius.  Thespesio  rejoined:  “And  yet  sacrificing  one  or  two  foreigners 
would  seem  more  humane  than  their  enforcement  of  the  exclusion  law 
against  all  foreigners.”  Apollonius  said:  “Let  us  keep  our  hands  off 
Lycurgus,  Thespesio.  We  must  understand  the  man’s  purpose  in  that  law, 
and  that  when  he  excluded  foreigners  he  did  not  intend  that  the  Spartans 


168 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


should  refuse  to  associate  with  other  men,  but  that  their  peculiar  institu¬ 
tions  could  not  be  maintained,  if  foreigners  should  reside  in  Sparta.” 
Thespesio  said :  “1  would  think  the  Spartans  to  be  such  as  they  wish  to  be 
thought,  if  they  preserved  their  ancestral  customs  notwithstanding  their 
intercourse  with  foreigners.  They  ought  to  deserve  credit  for  constancy  by 
maintaining  the  same  standards,  though  foreigners  were  with  them,  and 
not  by  keeping  them  away.  For  all  that,  though  they  boast  of  preserv¬ 
ing  the  purity  of  their  institutions  by  excluding  foreigners,  they  seem  to 
have  copied  the  ways  of  those  Greeks  whom  they  most  disliked.  Their 
naval  establishment  and  their  levy  of  tribute  on  their  allies  were  taken  by 
them  from  the  Athenians.  In  fact  they  were  led  to  do  the  very  thing  which 
they  went  to  war  with  the  Athenians  to  oppose,  for  though  they  van¬ 
quished  the  Athenians  in  the  war,  they  were  vanquished  by  their  institu¬ 
tions.  Their  importation  of  that  foreign  goddess  from  the  Taurians  and 
Scythians  was  in  itself  the  adoption  of  barbarian  customs.  If  they  did 
that  in  obedience  to  oracles,  why  invent  the  scourge?  Why  submit  them¬ 
selves  to  a  test  of  endurance  suitable  only  to  slaves?  To  sacrifice  one  of 
her  youths  upon  the  altar  as  a  willing  victim  would  have  shown  a  more 
Spartan  disregard  of  death,^  in  my  opinion;  for  it  would  have  given  a 
stronger  proof  of  her  fortitude,  and  would  have  discouraged  Greece  from 
attempting  to  meet  her  in  the  field.  And  if  it  was  her  policy  to  save  her 
young  men  for  war,  the  Scythian  law  prescribing  death  for  sixty-year-old 
men  might  better  have  been  enforced  among  the  Spartans  than  among  the 
Scythians,  if  their  readiness  to  die  was  sincere  and  not  an  affectation. 
These  criticisms  of  mine  are  not  aimed  at  them,  however,  but  at  you, 
Apollonius.  If  we  once  begin  to  pick  flaws  in  ancient  institutions,  whose 
origin  is  lost  in  antiquity ;  and  to  take  the  gods  to  task  because  they  delight 
in  them,  many  absurd  results  will  follow  from  such  a  course  of  reasoning. 
We  might  even  object  to  the  Eleusinian  Mysteries,  because  they  have  this 
thing  and  not  that ;  or  to  the  way  the  Samothracians  initiate,  because  that 
and  not  the  other  thing  is  done  by  them ;  or  to  the  Dionysia,  or  the  Phallus, 
or  the  statue  at  Cyllene ;  and  we  would  soon  come  to  find  fault  with  every¬ 
thing.  So  let  us  go  on  to  any  other  topic  you  may  choose,  in  obedience  to 
Pythagoras’  maxim,  which  is  also  ours,  that  it  is  surely  desirable  to  keep 
silence  on  matters  of  this  sort,  if  not  altogether.”  Apollonius  replied :  “If 
you  were  willing  to  really  consider  the  subject,  Thespesio,  Sparta  would  be 
found  to  offer  you  many  excellent  practices,  which  she  has  originated  with 
sound  judgment,  and  better  than  any  other  Greeks ;  but  since  you  bar  that, 
on  the  ground  that  it  is  wrong  to  discuss  such  matters,  let  us  pass  to 
another  subject  which  I  consider  very  important,  and  I  will  ask  you  some¬ 
thing  about  justice.” 


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169 


21. 

“That  is  a  subject  which  interests  everyone,  wise  or  unwise,”  remarked 
Thespesio,  “so  let  us  discuss  it.  But  in  order  not  to  confuse  the  argument 
by  weaving  into  it  the  opinions  of  the  Indians,  and  then  leaving  it  unset¬ 
tled,  explain  to  us  at  the  outset  what  they  think  of  justice,  which  you 
doubtless  ascertained  while  you  were  with  them.  Then  if  their  opinion  is 
sound  we  will  assent  to  it ;  or  if  we  should  advance  any  sounder  view  you 
may  assent  to  that,  which  would  furnish  us  with  an  additional  illustration 
of  justice.”  “That  is  a  most  admirable  suggestion  of  yours,  Thespesio,” 
replied  Apollonius,  “and  it  is  entirely  in  accord  with  my  own  wishes :  so 
listen  to  the  discussion  we  had  there.  I  was  telling  them  that  in  a  former 
existence,  when  my  soul  controlled  a  different  body,  I  was  steersman  of 
a  large  vessel,  and  that  in  my  opinion  I  had  acted  very  justly  on  one 
occasion,  when  pirates  had  offered  me  a  large  bribe  if  I  would  betray  the 
vessel  by  steering  it  where  they  were  to  lie  in  wait  for  the  cargo,  and  I 
actually  promised  them  to  do  so,  but  instead  I  eluded  the  ambush  by  taking 
a  circuitous  route.”  “Did  the  Indians  agree  with  you  that  this  conduct  of 
yours  was  just?”  asked  Thespesio,  and  Apollonius  answered:  “No,  they 
laughed  at  the  idea,  and  said  justice  does  not  consist  in  merely  not  being 
unjust.”  “That  very  properly  was  not  enough  for  the  Indians,”  said 
Thespesio,  “for  prudence  does  not  consist  in  not  planning  something  im¬ 
prudently  ;  nor  valor  in  not  deserting  the  line  of  battle,  nor  chastity  in  not 
committing  adultery,  nor  does  a  man  deserve  honor  merely  because  he  has 
not  been  prosecuted  for  crimes.  The  half-way  stage  between  reward  and 
punishment  does  not  amount  to  virtue.”  “By  what  standards,  then,  and 
for  what  actions  shall  we  crown  the  just  man,  Thespesio?”  asked  Apol¬ 
lonius;  and  Thespesio  replied:  “Might  not  your  debate  about  justice  have 
been  held  more  suitably  and  more  effectively  on  the  occasion  when  the 
monarch  of  that  great  and  fortunate  country  happened  to  interrupt  your 
discussion  of  the  science  of  government,  which  is  an  accomplishment  es¬ 
pecially  dependent  upon  justice?”  “If  it  had  been  Phraotes  who  came,” 
said  Apollonius,  “you  might  blame  us  fairly  for  not  discussing  justice  in 
his  presence ;  but  you  know  from  what  I  told  you  yesterday  how  besotted 
and  inimical  to  all  philosophy  that  other  man  is,  so  what  was  the  use  of 
boring  him?  Or  what  good  would  it  have  done  us  to  carry  on  a  serious 
argument  before  a  man  who  thought  of  nothing  but  personal  indulgence? 
Justice  should  be  analyzed  by  philosophers  like  ourselves,  not  by  kings  and 
commanders;  so  let  us  now  go  on  to  discover  what  justice  really  is,  since 
you  say  that  my  conduct  with  the  .ship,  which  I  thought  just,  did  not 
amount  to  that,  nor  does  any  one’s  conduct,  who  only  refrains  from  unjust 
actions.”  “And  very  rightly,  too,”  said  Thespesio,  “for  the  Athenians  or 


170 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


the  Spartans  never  voted  a  crown  to  any  one  because  he  was  not  a  de¬ 
bauchee,  nor  made  any  one  a  citizen  because  he  did  not  rob  temples.  What 
then  constitutes  a  just  man,  and  by  what  actions  does  he  become  such? 
I  know  of  no  man  who  ever  obtained  a  civic  crown  as  a  reward  of  his 
justice,  nor  even  that  any  popular  vote  was  ever  sought  for  crowning  a 
just  man,  because  he  had  shown  justice  in  doing  this  or  that.  Whoever 
recalls  what  happened  to  Palamedes  at  Troy,  or  to  Socrates  at  Athens,  will 
think  that  justice  does  not  prosper  well  among  men,  for  because  those  men 
were  most  just  they  suffered  the  greatest  injustice.  It  is  true  that  they 
were  condemned  to  death  upon  charges  of  crime,  of  which  they  were  con¬ 
victed  by  perjured  evidence;  but  his  justice  alone  ruined  Aristides,  the  son 
of  Lysimachus,  in  ancient  days,  for  that  great  man  was  banished  for  no 
other  reason  than  his  possession  of  that  virtue.  I  know  why  justice  seems 
preposterous ;  for  when  Zeus  and  the  Fates  ordained  Justice  to  protect  men 
from  each  other,  they  forgot  to  arrange  to  protect  her  from  them.  The 
instance  of  Aristides  is  enough  to  convince  me  that  justice  is  one  thing 
and  not  to  be  unjust  is  another.  For  tell  me,  you  who  come  from  Greece, 
is  not  this  Aristides  the  man  who  sailed  to  the  islands  of  the  allies  of 
Athens,  to  apportion  the  tribute  they  should  pay  her,  and  he  did  arrange 
it  all  fairly,  and  then  sailed  back  to  Athens  in  the  same  old  thread-bare 
cloak  ?”  ‘Tt  was  he,”  replied  Apollonius,  ‘‘and  by  his  example  an  affectation 
of  poverty  became  the  fashion  for  a  time.”  “Well,”  said  Thespesio,  “suppose 
that  two  Athenian  orators  were  eulogizing  Aristides,  when  he  returned 
from  those  allies,  and  one  of  them  asked  that  a  crown  be  voted  him  for 
not  coming  back  enriched  by  wealth  which  he  had  extorted  for  himself, 
instead  of  being  the  poorest  man  in  Athens — poorer  even  than  before  he 
went ;  but  the  other  orator  offered  some  such  resolution  as  this :  ‘Whereas 
Aristides  has  fixed  tributes  which  are  not  in  excess  of  our  allies’  ability  to 
pay,  and  which  are  proportionate  to  their  respective  territories ;  and  he  has 
taken  care  that  they  remain  loyal  to  Athens,  and  not  dissatisfied  with  their 
relative  contributions ;  now  therefore  it  is  decreed  that  he  be  crowned  for 
his  justice.’  Do  you  not  think  that  Aristides  himself  would  have  dis¬ 
approved  the  sentiment  of  the  first  speaker,  as  quite  unworthy  of  what  he 
had  accomplished,  to  be  crowned  for  not  having  misbehaved  himself ;  and 
that  perhaps  he  would  have  been  pleased  with  the  second  resolution,  as  one 
drawn  up  after  his  own  mind  ?  For  he  had  kept  in  view  the  interests  of  the 
Athenians  as  well  as  those  of  their  allies,  in  seeing  to  it  that  the  tributes 
were  adjusted  fairly;  and  this  was  more  evident  after  his  banishment, 
when  the  Athenians  imposed  heavier  contributions  upon  the  islands  than 
he  had  fixed,  and  the  island  fleets,  which  had  been  Athens’  strongest 
weapon,  were  disintegrated,  the  Spartan  fleets  obtained  command  of  the 
sea,  and  Athens’  power  was  gone,  because  her  tributaries  all  hastened  to 


BOOK  SIX 


171 


arrange  new  alliances  and  deserted  her.  So  if  you  reason  soundly,  Apol¬ 
lonius,  a  just  man  is  not  defined  as  a  man  who  is  not  unjust,  but  as  a  man 
who  acts  justly  himself,  and  also  prevents  others  from  acting  unjustly. 
From  such  justice  other  virtues  flow,  especially  when  it  is  applied  to  courts 
and  to  law-making.  Such  a  man  will  be  far  more  upright  as  a  judge,  than 
those  who  take  their  judicial  oath  upon  sacrificed  victims;  and  as  a  law¬ 
maker,  he  will  legislate  like  Solon  or  Lycurgus,  who  too  were  governed  by 
justice  in  formulating  their  laws.” 

22. 

Damis  reports  this  dissertation  of  the  Gymnosophists  on  justice,  and 
says  that  Apollonius  concurred  in  their  remarks,  for  it  was  his  custom  to 
express  his  agreement  with  sound  views.  Concerning  the  immortality  of 
the  soul,  and  concerning  the  natural  world,  they  reached  conclusions  which 
were  very  like  Plato’s  opinions  expressed  in  his  Timaeus.  After  a  long  dis¬ 
cussion  of  the  laws  of  the  Greeks,  Apollonius  said:  ‘'The  object  of  my 
journey  here  is  not  only  to  visit  you,  but  to  visit  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 
A  man  might  be  excused  for  ignorance  of  them  if  he  only  came  to  Egypt, 
but  one  who  comes  as  far  as  I  have  into  Ethiopia  would  be  justly  censured 
if  he  failed  to  see  them,  and  to  imbibe  some  inspiration  from  them.”  “Go 
,  there  rejoicing,”  said  Thespesio,  “and  pray  to  the  sources  for  your  dearest 
wish,  because  they  are  divine.  I  understand  that  Timasion,  who  formerly 
lived  in  Naucratis  and  now  is  of  Memphis,  will  be  your  guide,  and  he 
knows  the  sources  well,  and  is  so  pure  that  he  needs  no  sprinkling.  Nilus, 
we  wish  to  have  a  private  conversation  with  you.”  The  meaning  of  these 
last  words  did  not  escape  Apollonius,  for  he  understood  that  they  did  not 
like  Nilus’  predilection  for  himself ;  so  to  give  them  an  opportunity  for 
their  talk  he  went  away  to  prepare  to  start  on  his  journey  at  daybreak. 
Nilus  soon  rejoined  him,  but  said  nothing  of  his  conversation  with  the 
Sages,  although  he  often  chuckled  to  himself ;  and  none  of  them  asked  him 
why  he  laughed,  for  they  all  respected  his  reticence. 

23. 

They  had  some  unimportant  conversation  after  supper,  and  then  slept 
where  they  lay,  but  at  dawn  they  bade  farewell  to  the  Gymnosophists,  and 
took  the  road  leading  toward  the  mountains,  having  the  Nile  on  their  right 
hand.  In  the  course  of  the  journey  they  made  these  observations  which  are 
worthy  of  note.  The  Cataract  mountains  are  earthy,  like  Mount  Tmolus 
in  Lydia,  and  the  Nile  rushes  down  them  in  a  torrent,  building  up  Egypt 
with  the  soil  which  it  rends  away  from  them.  The  roar  of  the  river,  as  it 
falls  headlong  from  the  cliffs  and  plunges  at  once  into  the  gorge  of  the 
Nile,  seems  unendurable  and  ear-splitting,  so  that  many  who  have  ap¬ 
proached  too  near  have  found  themselves  deafened  when  they  retreated. 


172 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


24. 

As  the  party  went  forward,  the  foothills  of  the  mountains  came  in 
sight,  covered  with  trees,  whose  leaves  and  bark  and  gum  the  Ethiopians 
eat  as  they  would  fruit.  They  saw  lions  and  leopards  and  beasts  of  that 
description  near  the  trail,  which  did  not  molest  the  party,  but  got  out  of 
their  way  as  if  afraid  of  man.  They  also  saw  deer,  gazelles,  ostriches, 
zebras  in  great  numbers,  and  still  more  numerous  wild  cattle  (buffalos?) 
and  ox-goats  (gnus?).  Of  these  animals  the  wild  cattle  are  a  combination 
of  the  bull  and  the  stag ;  and  the  ox-goats  are  a  compound  of  the  animals 
whose  names  they  bear.  The  party  often  came  across  bones  of  these  beasts, 
and  their  half-eaten  carcasses  ;  for  lions,  after  gorging  themselves  with 
a  recent  kill,  would  abandon  the  remnants,  trusting  to  the  success  of  their 
next  hunt,  as  I  suppose. 

25. 

In  that  region  dwell  nomadic  Ethiopians  who  live  in  communities  in 
wagons ;  and  near  them  are  the  elephant  hunters,  who  sell  elephants’  flesh 
cut  up  in  lumps,  and  who  take  their  name  from  that  trade.  The  Nasamones 
and  cannibals  and  pigmies  and  umbrella- footed  men  are  also  tribes  of 
Ethiopia,  but  they  border  on  the  Ethiopian  Sea,  where  no  vessel  enters 
unless  it  is  driven  from  its  course  and  forced  to  go  there. 

26. 

In  the  midst  of  a  philosophical  discussion  about  animals,  and  how 
differently  nature  provides  for  them,  the  party  heard  a  sound  like  distant 
thunder,  as  if  muffled  and  rumbling  in  the  clouds.  Timasion  cried: 
“Sirs,  a  cataract  is  near  by,  the  last  one  as  you  come  down  the  river,  and 
the  first  in  going  up.”  Damis  reports  that  about  ten  stadia  further  on  they 
saw  the  river  issuing  from  the  mountains,  no  smaller  than  the  Marsyas 
and  the  Mseander,  where  they  come  together;  and  that  as  they  went  on 
along  the  trail,  after  praying  to  the  Nile,  they  saw  no  more  animals,  which 
being  naturally  alarmed  by  noise  sought  quiet  waters  rather  than  those 
tumbling  in  thunder  over  precipices.  Going  on  fifteen  stadia  further  they 
heard  another  cataract,  the  roar  of  which  was  intolerable  to  their  ears, 
though  it  was  some  distance  away,  for  it  was  twice  as  wide  as  the  first  one 
and  fell  over  higher  cliffs.  Damis  says  that  his  ears  and  those  of  his  com¬ 
panions  were  so  stunned  that  he  stopped  dead,  and  begged  Apollonius  to 
go  no  further,  but  that  Apollonius  went  on  boldly  with  Timasion  and 
Nilus  as  far  as  the  third  cataract.  On  his  return,  he  reported  that  the  sum¬ 
mits  there  overhang  the  Nile  at  a  height  of  nearly  eight  stadia,  and  that  the 
river  bank  in  front  of  the  cliffs  is  a  mound  of  stones  piled  up  in  a  wonder¬ 
ful  way,  and  that  the  jets  of  water,  bursting  from  the  face  of  the  cliff  and 
seeming  to  hang  there,  fall  upon  the  stony  bank  and  thence  are  hurled 


BOOK  SIX 


173 


boiling  and  foaming  into  the  Nile.  As  this  cataract  is  very  much  higher 
than  the  first  two,  and  its  roar  is  re-echoed  by  the  cliffs,  the  observers’ 
sufferings  from  noise  made  their  study  of  the  river  a  bewildering  task. 
Damis  says  that  the  road  beyond  this  point,  leading  to  the  actual  sources 
of  the  river,  is  impassable  and  even  unthinkable;  and  that  they  were  told 
many  stories  of  demons  there,  like  Pindar’s  poetic  account  of  the  demon 
stationed  at  the  source  to  regulate  the  flow  of  the  Nile. 

27. 

On  their  way  back  from  the  Cataracts,  as  they  were  eating  supper  one 
night  about  dusk  in  a  small  native  village,  mingling  serious  conversation 
with  merry,  they  heard  a  loud  outcry  among  the  village  women,  calling  to 
each  other  to  take  hold  of  hands  and  follow,  and  also  calling  to  their  men 
to  make  a  combined  attack  upon  something;  and  the  men  were  snatching 
up  clubs  and  stones  and  any  weapon  that  came  to  hand,  and  were  shouting 
that  their  women  would  be  violated.  It  seems  that  a  kind  of  satyr  had 
been  hovering  about  the  village  for  ten  months,  who  was  crazy  about 
women,  and  was  said  to  have  already  killed  two  of  them  whom  he  seemed 
especially  to  desire.  The  rest  of  the  party  were  terrified,  but  Apollonius 
said :  ‘‘Don’t  be  frightened,  for  it  is  only  some  satyr  ramping  about  here.” 
“By  Zeus,”  said  Nilus,  “we  Gymnosophists  have  not  succeeded  yet  in  pre¬ 
venting  that  ramper’s  outrages,  although  we  have  been  trying  to  do  so 
for  some  time.”  “And  yet,”  said  Apollonius,  “there  is  a  remedy  against 
such  unruliness,  which  they  say  Midas  once  employed.  He  was  himself  of 
satyr  blood,  as  was  shown  by  his  ears,  and  when  a  satyr  presumed  on  his 
relationship  by  taking  liberties  with  him  and  ridiculing  his  ears,  not  only 
singing  a  song  about  them,  but  playing  it  on  a  flute,  some  one,  his  mother 
I  fancy,  told  Midas  that  if  a  satyr  was  made  drunken  and  slept  it  off,  he 
would  wake  up  sober  and  friendly.  So  Midas  poured  wine  into  a  fountain- 
basin  near  his  palace,  where  the  satyr  could  get  at  it,  and  he  drank  there 
and  was  caught.  That  story  may  be  true,  so  let  us  go  to  the  headman  of 
the  village,  and  if  they  have  any  wine,  let  us  mix  it  for  this  satyr,  and  he 
will  fare  like  that  other  one  of  Midas.”  They  thought  it  a  good  plan,  and 
after  the  natives  had  poured  four  jars  of  wine  into  the  watering  trough 
where  the  village  cattle  drank,  Apollonius  summoned  the  satyr  with  mystic 
spells.  No  one  actually  saw  him,  but  they  saw  the  wine  gradually  lower  in 
the  trough,  as  though  he  was  drinking,  and  when  it  was  gone,  Apollonius 
said :  “Now  we  may  make  peace  with  this  satyr,  for  he  is  asleep.”  There¬ 
upon  he  conducted  the  natives  to  a  cave  of  the  Nymphs,  not  a  hundred 
paces  from  the  village,  and  showed  them  the  satyr  sleeping  there ;  but  he 
ordered  them  to  refrain  from  blows  or  curses,  “for  he  has  given  over  his 
follies  now,”  he  said.  Such  a  deed  as  this  of  Apollonius  was  not  a  mere  in- 


174 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


cident  of  the  journey  (odou  par  ergon),  by  Zeus,  but  it  was  his  preliminary 
exploit  (parodou  ergon)';  and  this  narrative  of  it  should  be  kept  in  mind 
by  any  reader  who  comes  across  that  letter  of  his,  written  to  a  wanton 
youth,  in  which  he  says  that  in  Ethiopia  he  tamed  a  satyr  which  was  also 
a  demon.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  satyrs  exist,  and  that  they  are 
libidinous.  I  knew  in  Lemnos  a  man  of  my  own  age,  to  whose  mother  a 
satyr  was  said  to  resort,  of  the  kind  described  in  this  story.  His  back  was 
apparently  covered  with  an  untanned  fawn  skin,  the  forelegs  of  which 
passed  around  his  neck  and  were  tied  over  his  chest.  But  I  will  say  no 
more  on  the  subject,  for  I  would  not  excite  any  doubt,  either  of  Damis’ 
account  or  of  my  own  credulity. 

28. 

As  soon  as  he  returned  from  Ethiopia  Apollonius’  bickering  with 
Euphrates  was  renewed,  and  was  aggravated  continually  by  daily  attacks 
which  the  latter  made  upon  him,  and  which  he  turned  over  to  Menippus 
and  Nilus  to  answer.  He  had  a  low  opinion  of  Euphrates’  ability,  and  he 
was  greatly  occupied  with  the  education  of  Nilus. 

29. 

After  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus,  in  which  it  had  been  filled 
with  corpses,  the  neighboring  cities  offered  him  a  civic  crown,  but  he  dis^ 
claimed  the  honor,  saying  that  the  victory  was  not  his,  but  that  his  hands 
had  been  used  by  God  to  manifest  his  wrath  against  the  Jews.  Apollonius 
applauded  this  renunciation,  because  Titus  showed  wisdom  and  knowledge 
of  both  human  and  divine  affairs  as  well  as  much  self-restraint  in  refusing 
to  be  crowned  for  bloodshed,  and  he  wrote  a  letter  which  he  sent  to  him 
by  Damis,  in  these  words : 

‘‘Apollonius  to  Titus,  the  commander  of  the  Romans,  greeting: 

“I  bestow  on  you  the  crown  of  self-control,  because  you  have  declined 
to  be  heralded  for  waging  war,  or  for  shedding  the  blood  of  your  enemies ; 
and  because  you  have  learned  for  what  reasons  crowns  should  be  given. 
Farewell.” 

Overjoyed  by  this  letter,  Titus  sent  this  answer: 

“I  thank  you  on  behalf  of  both  my  father  and  myself ;  and  I  will  re¬ 
member  what  you  have  written ;  for  if  I  have  taken  Jerusalem,  you  have 
taken  me.” 

30. 

Being  soon  designated  as  emperor  at  Rome,  and  thought  to  have 
earned  it  by  those  victories,  Titus  went  thither,  to  be  associated  with  his 
father  in  the  government  of  the  empire.  Before  going  he  sent  for  Apol¬ 
lonius  to  meet  him  at  Argos,  for  he  thought  that  even  a  short  conference 


BOOK  SIX 


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with  him  would  be  valuable ;  and  on  his  arrival  he  embraced  him,  saying : 
“My  father  has  written  me  a  full  account,  how  he  made  you  his  adviser. 
Here  is  the  letter,  in  which  he  calls  you  his  benefactor,  and  says  that  you 
have  made  our  family  what  we  are.  Now  at  thirty  years  of  age  I  have  been 
given  the  same  rank  as  my  sixty-year-old  father,  and  he  has  summoned  me 
to  rule,  when  I  am  not  sure  that  I  have  yet  learned  to  obey.  I  fear  that  I 
am  undertaking  more  than  I  should.”  Laying  his  hand  on  Titus’  neck, 
the  muscles  of  which  stood  out  like  an  athlete’s,  Apollonius  asked :  “Who 
will  compel  the  bull  to  submit  so  powerful  a  neck  to  the  yoke  ?”  “He  who 
brought  me  up  as  a  calf,”  replied  Titus,  meaning  his  father,  and  that  he 
would  obey  only  the  man  who  had  trained  him  to  obedience  from  boyhood. 
Apollonius  said:  “I  rejoice  to  see  you  willing  to  obey  your  father.  Even 
those  who  have  not  been  born  his  sons  submit  gladly  to  his  rule.  I  rejoice, 
too,  that  you  are  to  honor  his  palace  by  residence  there,  where  you  yourself 
will  be  honored  with  him.  For  when  youth  and  age  wield  the  sceptre 
jointly,  what  lyre  or  flute  can  make  such  sweet  and  blended  harmony? 
The  qualities  of  the  older  man  supplement  those  of  the  younger,  so  that 
age  will  be  invig'orated  and  youth  will  be  restrained.” 

31. 

“And  as  for  me,  what  advice  will  you  give  me  upon  government  and 
king-craft,  Apollonius?”  asked  Titus,  and  Apollonius  replied:  “The  same 
that  you  have  already  thought  out  for  yourself.  By  obedience  to  your 
father  you  will  become  more  and  more  like  him.  But  at  this  time  I  will 
give  you  Archytas’  advice,  for  it  is  high-minded  and  deserves  to  be  learned 
by  heart.  He  was  a  Tarentine  trained  in  the  school  of  Pythagoras,  and  in 
writing  on  the  education  of  boys  he  says:  ‘Let  fathers  be  the  model  of 
virtue  for  their  sons,  for  fathers  will  march  more  steadily  toward  the 
virtues  if  their  sons  are  keeping  step  with  them.’  I  will  also  send  with  you 
my  comrade  Demetrius,  who  will  be  on  hand  whenever  you  want  him,  to 
advise  you  how  a  g'ood  ruler  should  act.”  “What  knowledge  has  that  man, 
Apollonius?”  asked  Titus,  and  Apollonius  replied:  “He  is  outspoken  and 
sincere,  and  no  respecter  of  persons ;  for  he  has  all  the  good  qualities  of 
Cynic  philosophy.”  Seeing  Titus  disconcerted  by  the  word  “cynic”  (dog¬ 
like),  he  added:  “Homer  thought  that  the  youth  Telemachus  needed  not 
less  than  two  dogs,  and  he  sent  them  both,  although  they  lacked  reason, 
to  accompany  the  lad  into  the  assembly  of  the  Ithacans.  But  the  dog  who 
will  abide  with  you  will  bark  not  irrationally  but  wisely  to  guard  you  from 
others,  and  from  yourself  as  well,  if  you  go  wrong  in  any  way.”  “Let  me 
have  that  dog  at  my  heels,  then,”  said  Titus,  “and  he  may  even  bite  me,  if 
he  sees  me  acting  badly.”  “I  have  written  him  a  letter,  for  he  is  now 
philosophizing  in  Rome,”  said  Apollonius.  “Send  it,”  said  Titus,  “but  I 


176 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


wish  some  one  would  write  you  a  letter  to  induce  you  to  become  my  trav¬ 
elling  companion  to  Rome.”  Apollonius  answered:  “I  will  come  when  it 
will  be  better  for  both  of  us.” 

32. 

Sending  away  his  attendants,  Titus  said:  ‘'Now  that  we  are  alone, 
Apollonius,  may  I  ask  you  some  very  important  questions?”  “The  more 
important  they  are,  the  more  confidently  you  may  ask  them,”  replied  Apol¬ 
lonius.  Titus  said:  “I  wish  to  ask  you  about  guarding  my  life,  and  of 
whom  I  should  be  most  watchful ;  unless  you  think  me  cowardly  in  being 
apprehensive  on  those  subjects  already.”  “Nay,  I  think  on  the  contrary 
that  you  are  cautious  and  prudent,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  such  precautions 
are  extremely  necessary.”  Then  looking  toward  the  sun,  he  swore  by  it 
that  he  himself  would  have  brought  that  subject  up  if  he  had  not  been 
asked  about  it,  for  he  had  a  revelation  from  the  gods  to  warn  Titus  to  be 
on  his  guard  against  his  father’s  greatest  enemies,  so  long  as  his  father 
lived,  and  after  his  death  to  be  on  his  guard  against  his  own  nearest  kins¬ 
men.  “How  will  I  come  by  my  death?”  asked  Titus,  and  Apollonius 
answered :  “As  they  say  Ulysses  did ;  for  death  is  said  to  have  come  from 
the  sea  to  him  too.”  Damis  interpreted  this  to  mean  that  Titus  should 
beware  of  the  spines  of  a  sea  urchin,  by  which  Ulysses  is  said  to  have  been 
fatally  pricked;  but  two  years  later,  when  Titus  had  succeeded  his  father 
as  emperor,  he  died  of  eating  a  sea-hare.  That  fish  secretes  juices  more 
deadly  to  human  beings  than  anything  else  in  sea  or  land.  Nero  used  to 
serve  it  up  at  his  banquets  to  those  most  under  his  displeasure,  and  Domi- 
tian  gave  it  to  his  brother  Titus,  not  because  he  objected  to  share  the 
throne  with  a  brother,  but  because  that  brother  was  gentle  and  honorable. 
After  this  private  conversation  on  these  subjects  Titus  and  Apollonius 
embraced  each  other  publicly,  and  the  Master  called  after  the  departing 
Titus:  “O  Emperor,  prevail  over  your  foes  by  your  arms,  and  over  your 
father  by  your  virtues !” 

33. 

This  was  the  letter  which  he  wrote  to  Demetrius : 

“Apollonius  the  philosopher  to  Demetrius  the  dog,  greeting: 

“I  have  presented  you  to  the  emperor  Titus,  to  teach  him  imperial 
conduct.  Confirm  to  him  what  I  have  told  him  of  you,  and  be  everything  to 
him  except  angry.  Farewell.” 

34. 

Until  then  the  people  of  Tarsus  had  detested  Apollonius,  because 
he  had  continually  reproved  them,  and  because  their  license  and  luxury 
could  not  endure  the  vigor  of  his  discourses;  but  at  this  time  he  made 


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177 


them  so  attached  to  him  that  they  called  him  the  founder  of  their  city, 
and  the  prop  of  their  commonwealth.  While  the  emperor  Titus  was  hold¬ 
ing  public  sacrifices  at  Tarsus,  the  assembled  townsmen  petitioned  him 
about  matters  of  the  highest  importance  to  their  city,  and  he  replied  that 
he  would  report  these  requests  to  his  father,  and  would  act  as  their  envoy 
in  urging  them  upon  him.  Apollonius  came  forward  and  said  to  him :  ‘Tf 
I  shall  prove  to  you  that  some  of  these  men  are  your  father’s  enemies,  as 
well  as  yours,  and  that  they  sent  emissaries  to  Jerusalem  to  stir  up  revolt, 
and  that  they  are  secret  agents  of  your  most  open  foes,  what  punishment 
will  they  get?”  “Instant  death,”  he  answered.  “What  else  could  it  be?” 
“Are  you  not  ashamed,  then,”  said  Apollonius,  “to  be  so  prompt  in  taking 
vengeance  on  your  subjects,  but  to  be  slow  in  showing  them  kindness?  To 
decide  the  one  matter  on  your  own  responsibility,  but  to  postpone  deciding 
the  other  until  you  consult  your  associate?”  Vastly  pleased,  the  emperor 
said :  “I  grant  their  petition  now.  My  father  will  not  be  offended  by  my 
yielding  to  justice  and  to  you.” 

35. 

All  these  peoples  Damis  says  Apollonius  had  visited  up  to  that  time, 
eager  in  his  efforts  for  others,  and  eagerly  welcomed,  but  that  his  journeys 
thereafter,  while  many,  were  not  so  long,  nor  to  other  countries  than  he 
already  knew.  After  his  return  from  Ethiopia  he  sojourned  in  Lower 
Egypt  for  some  time,  then  among  the  Phoenicians,  then  the  Cilicians,  the 
lonians,  the  Achaeans,  and  once  more  in  Italy ;  never  failing  to  show  him¬ 
self  equal  to  his  reputation.  Self-knowledge  may  be  hard  to  attain,  but  I 
think  it  still  harder  for  a  philosopher  to  maintain  consistently  his  own  high 
level.  He  will  not  reform  evilly-disposed  men,  unless  he  shall  have  first 
learned  to  keep  himself  unchanged.  However,  I  have  said  enough  on  this 
subject  in  other  books,  in  which  I  have  taught  those  who  read  with  some 
attention  that  a  really  manly  man  will  be  neither  unstable  nor  dominated. 
Not  to  become  tedious  by  repeating  minutely  all  his  philosophic  utterances, 
nor  on  the  other  hand  to  seem  to  skip  through  our  account  of  the  man, 
which  we  are  giving  with  great  pains,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  do  not 
know  of  him,  our  intention  is  to  report  only  the  more  weighty  occurrences 
which  deserve  to  be  recorded.  We  may  liken  such  reports  to  the  visits  of 
great  physicians. 

36. 

A  young  man,  who  entirely  lacked  instruction  himself,  was  teaching 
birds  to  talk  like  men,  and  to  whistle  like  flutes ;  and  in  order  to  train 
them  he  kept  them  in  his  house.  Apollonius  on  meeting  him  asked  what 
his  occupation  was,  whereupon  he  began  to  tell  of  his  nightingales  and 
blackbirds,  and  what  good  talkers  his  curlews  were,  and  in  doing  so  be- 


178 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


trayed  his  own  uncultured  speech,  until  Apollonius  said  to  him :  “I  think 
you  are  spoiling  your  birds,  by  not  letting  them  use  their  natural  notes, 
which  are  sweeter  than  any  musical  instrument  can  imitate,  and  at  the 
same  time  you  are  making  those  pupils  of  yours  stammer,  for  you  are  the 
worst  speaker  in  Greece  yourself.  Judging  by  your  companions,  and  your 
surroundings,  young  man,  you  are  one  of  the  luxurious  rich,  and  if  so, 
you  are  in  a  fair  way  to  lose  your  property.  Blackmailers  suck  honey  from 
such  men  as  you,  by  inserting  the  sting  of  their  poisonous  tongues.  Of 
what  use  will  your  passion  for  birds  be  then?  All  the  songs  of  all  your 
nightingales  will  not  help  you  to  ward  off  those  importunate  swarms. 
You  must  pump  your  property  over  them,  and  throw  gold  to  them  like  sops 
to  Cerberus,  and  do  so  again,  and  again,  to  shut  their  mouths,  until  you 
will  be  brought  to  hunger  and  want.  You  should  face  the  other  way,  and 
change  your  mode  of  life,  if  you  would  not  find  yourself  soon  fleeced  of 
your  wealth,  and  living  in  such  poverty  that  your  birds  will  mourn  rather 
than  sing.  The  way  to  prevent  such  a  downfall  is  not  diflicult.  Every  city 
has  a  class  of  men  known  as  schoolmasters,  whose  acquaintance  you  have 
yet  to  form.  If  you  give  them  a  little  of  your  money,  it  will  bring  you  in  a 
great  deal,  for  they  will  teach  you  the  easily-acquired  art  of  public  speak¬ 
ing.  If  I  had  seen  you  in  your  boyhood,  I  would  have  advised  you  to  knock 
at  the  doors  of  philosophers  and  sophists,  and  to  fortify  your  estate  with 
every  kind  of  knowledge ;  but  though  you  are  too  old  for  such  an  education 
now,  you  can  at  least  learn  to  speak  for  yourself.  Equipped  with  a  higher 
education,  you  would  have  been  like  a  formidable  heavy-armed  warrior ; 
but  by  learning  this  accomplishment  you  will  at  least  acquire  the  weapons 
of  an  archer  or  a  slinger,  and  you  will  smite  blackmailers  like  the  sneaking 
dogs  they  are.”  The  young  man  properly  appreciated  this  advice,  gave  up 
wasting  his  time  on  birds,  and  engaged  masters,  through  whom  both  his 
mind  and  his  tongue  were  polished. 

37. 

Two  fables  were  current  among  the  Sardians,  one  that  the  Pactolus 
river  used  to  bring  down  gold  dust  to  Croesus,  and  the  other  that  there 
were  trees  before  the  earth  was  created.  Apollonius  remarked  that  the 
first  tradition  was  credible,  because  there  might  have  been  gold-bearing 
sand  on  Mount  Tmolus  which  the  wash  of  the  rains  would  carry  into  the 
Pactolus,  until  it  had  been  at  last  exhausted  by  this  process,  as  usually 
happens  to  such  deposits.  But  he  smiled  at  the  other  fable,  saying :  ‘‘You 
claim  that  trees  are  more  ancient  than  the  earth,  but  in  all  my  long  study 
of  philosophy  I  never  learned  that  the  stars  were  older  than  the  sky 
implying  that  nothing  could  exist  before  the  medium  which  contains  it. 


BOOK  SIX 


179 


38. 

The  prefect  of  Syria  was  stirring  up  strife  in  Antioch  which  created 
such  distrust  among  the  citizens  that  the  town-assembly  was  rent  into 
factions  ;  and  when  on  top  of  that  a  severe  earthquake  occurred,  the  towns¬ 
men  were  distracted,  and  offered  up  prayers  for  their  common  safety,  a 
frequent  result  of  divine  portents.  Apollonius  stood  forth  among  them  and 
said:  “God  has  manifestly  brought  about  your  reconciliation,  so  see  to  it 
that  you  have  nothing  to  do  with  feuds  in  future,  from  fear  that  the  same 
calamities  may  happen  again and  he  went  on  to  warn  them  of  the  prob¬ 
able  consequences  of  such  conduct,  and  that  they  should  beware  of  the 
fate  of  others. 

39. 

This  incident  also  should  be  recorded.  A  man  was  offering  sacrifices 
to  the  Earth,  so  that  he  might  be  rewarded  by  finding  some  hidden  treas¬ 
ure,  and  he  did  not  scruple  to  pester  Apollonius  for  the  same  purpose. 
Meditating  on  the  man’s  cupidity,  the  Master  said  to  him :  “I  see  that  you 
are  an  excellent  business  man.”  “On  the  contrary  I  am  a  very  unlucky 
one,”  he  replied,  “for  I  have  hardly  any  property  at  all,  not  enough  to 
support  my  family.”  Apollonius  said:  “Then  you  must  be  feeding  a  lot 
of  lazy  servants,  for  you  are  evidently  no  incompetent.”  Tears  came  to  the 
man’s  eyes  as  he  said :  “I  have  four  daughters,  and  must  find  for  them 
that  many  dowries,  but  so  far  I  have  scraped  together  only  twenty  thou¬ 
sand  drachmas,  and  if  I  divide  that  among  the  girls  it  will  be  only  a  trifle 
for  each  of  them,  while  I  shall  starve  to  death.”  Moved  to  sympathy  for 
him,  Apollonius  said :  “I  hear  that  you  are  sacrificing  to  the  Earth,  and 
between  her  and  me  you  shall  be  looked  after.”  Thereupon  he  went  into 
the  outskirts  of  the  city  in  the  guise  of  a  fruit-buyer,  and  seeing  there  a 
well-planted  olive  orchard  which  pleased  him  by  the  vigor  and  growth  of 
its  trees,  and  which  had  a  garden  attached  to  it  where  he  noticed  bee-hives 
and  flowers,  he  entered  the  garden,  as  if  to  examine  something  there  more 
closely,  and  then  returned  to  the  city,  invoking  Pandora.  There  he  called 
on  the  owner  of  the  orchard,  who  had  amassed  his  ill-gotten  wealth  by 
informing  against  the  property  of  Phoenicians,  and  he  asked  him :  “What 
did  you  pay  for  that  orchard  of  yours,  and  how  much  have  you  spent  on 
it  ?”  The  man  replied  that  he  had  bought  the  property  the  year  before  for 
fifteen  thousand  drachmas,  and  had  spent  no  more  on  it.  Apollonius  per¬ 
suaded  him  to  sell  it  to  him  for  twenty  thousand  drachmas,  which  would 
give  him  a  profit  of  five  thousand.  When  he  told  the  treasure-seeker  of 
this  bargain,  the  man  did  not  like  it,  and  in  fact  did  not  think  it  worth  the 
money,  arguing  that  so  long  as  he  kept  his  twenty  thousand  drachmas  he 
would  have  that  much  anyway,  but  a  farm  would  be  subject  to  frost,  and 


180 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


hail,  and  all  the  other  chances  of  injury  to  the  crops.  But  when  he  had 
found  a  jar  of  three  thousand  gold  darics  in  the  garden  near  the  hives,  and 
the  olive  trees  yielded  a  fine  crop  when  other  orchards  were  failures,  he 
shouted  pseans  to  Apollonius,  and  his  home  was  crowded  with  wooers. 

40. 

I  also  find  this  incident  about  him  interesting.  A  man  fell  in  love  with 
the  statue  of  Venus,  which  stands  naked  at  Cnidos,  and  he  used  to  make 
offerings  to  it,  and  promised  to  give  more  if  she  would  marry  him,  all 
which  seemed  to  Apollonius  extraordinarily  senseless  conduct.  As  the 
Cnidians  did  not  object  to  it,  but  said  on  the  contrary  that  their  goddess 
would  be  made  all  the  more  famous  by  being  courted,  he  took  thought 
how  the  temple  might  be  purified  of  that  mania.  When  the  Cnidians  asked 
him  if  he  could  suggest  any  improvement  in  their  mode  of  prayer,  or  of 
sacrifice,  he  answered :  “I  will  improve  your  eyesight,  but  the  traditional 
ceremonies  of  the  temple  are  well  enough  as  they  are.”  Then  sending  for 
that  degenerate  he  asked  him  if  he  believed  in  the  gods.  The  man  replied 
that  he  believed  in  them  so  firmly  that  he  was  actually  in  love  with  one  of 
them,  adding  something  about  celebrating  his  wedding,  but  Apollonius 
said:  “Those  poets  are  deluding  you  with  their  fables  about  Anchises 
and  Peleus  marrying  goddesses.  My  opinion  about  loving  and  being  loved 
is  that  gods  mate  with  goddesses,  men  with  women,  and  beasts  with  their 
females,  like  with  like  in  all  cases,  to  produce  true  and  natural  offspring ; 
but  union  with  any  of  a  different  class  is  neither  love  nor  marriage.  The 
case  of  Ixion  should  have  warned  you  not  to  think  of  loving  anyone 
unlike  yourself.  He  is  rolled  through  the  sky  like  a  wheel,  and  unless 
you  stay  away  from  this  temple  you  will  be  scourged  in  misery  through 
all  the  world,  without  even  the  consolation  of  complaining  that  the  gods 
have  punished  you  beyond  your  deserts.”  This  quenched  the  madness  of 
the  avowed  suitor,  and  after  expiating  his  offense  by  sacrifice  he  kept  away 
from  the  temple. 

41. 

At  one  time  the  cities  on  the  left  shore  of  the  Hellespont  were  being 
shaken  by  frequent  earthquakes,  and  Egyptian  and  Chaldaean  soothsayers 
flocked  to  them,  to  collect  money  on  the  pretext  of  offering  a  sacrifice  cost¬ 
ing  ten  talents  to  Earth  and  to  Neptune.  The  panic-stricken  townsmen 
were  trying  to  get  the  money  together  from  the  public  treasuries,  and  by 
house-to-house  solicitation,  for  the  soothsayers  refused  to  make  any  sacri¬ 
fice  for  them  until  the  stipulated  sum  should  all  be  deposited  in  safe  hands. 
Apollonius  thought  that  he  ought  to  look  after  those  Hellespontines,  and 
he  went  through  their  cities  tracing  out  the  guilt  which  had  excited  the 
divine  wrath.  After  satisfying  himself  on  that  point,  he  dispersed  those 


BOOK  SIX 


181 


exploiters  of  the  misfortunes  of  others,  and  by  instituting  sacrifices  pro¬ 
portioned  to  each  man’s  means,  he  removed  the  impending  danger  at  small 
expense,  and  the  earth  was  quieted. 

42. 

About  that  time  Domitian  published  an  edict  forbidding  the  making 
of  eunuchs,  and  also  forbidding  the  planting  of  vines,  and  ordering  all 
vines  already  planted  to  be  uprooted.  Apollonius,  who  was  then  visiting 
the  lonians,  said  to  them:  “These  regulations  do  not  affect  me  person¬ 
ally,  for  perhaps  I  am  the  only  man  alive  who  has  no  use  for  either  sexual 
organs  or  wine ;  but  our  most  excellent  sovereign  may  have  overlooked 
the  fact  that  the  same  edict  which  spares  the  man  castrates  the  soil.”  This 
saying  encouraged  the  lonians  to  send  legates  to  the  emperor  about  their 
vines,  to  protest  against  the  law  which  compelled  them  to  lay  waste  their 
land,  and  forbade  replanting. 

43. 

This  too  he  is  said  to  have  done  at  Tarsus.  A  mad  dog  had  bitten  a 
boy,  constraining  him  thereby  to  act  in  all  ways  like  a  dog,  barking  and 
howling,  and  going  on  all-fours,  using  his  hands  as  paws  to  run  about. 
After  he  had  suffered  from  this  madness  for  thirty  days,  Apollonius  arrived 
in  Tarsus,  and  came  at  once  to  see  him.  He  gave  orders  that  the  dog  which 
was  the  origin  of  the  malady  should  be  looked  for,  but  they  told  him  that 
no  one  had  seen  the  animal ;  for  the  attack  had  been  made  outside  the  city 
walls,  where  the  lad  was  practicing  spear-throwing,  and  that  they  could  get 
no  description  of  the  dog  from  the  patient  because  he  was  delirious.  After 
a  short  pause,  Apollonius  said :  “Damis,  it  is  a  shaggy  white  shepherd  dog, 
like  an  Amphilochian.  It  stands  shivering  near  that  spring  over  there,  for 
it  craves  the  water,  and  at  the  same  time  is  afraid  of  it.  Go  and  bring 
it  to  me  at  the  wrestling-ground  near  the  river ;  all  you  have  to  do  is  to  tell 
it  that  I  have  sent  you  for  it.”  When  Damis  brought  the  dog  it  crouched 
whimpering  at  Apollonius’  feet  like  a  suppliant  at  an  altar,  but  he  soothed 
and  patted  it,  keeping  the  boy  at  his  side  all  tlie  time ;  and  not  to  conceal  the 
great  mystery  from  the  people’s  knowledge,  he  said  to  the  bystanders : 
“The  soul  of  Telephus  the  Mysian  has  entered  into  this  lad,  and  the  Fates 
ordain  the  same  afflictions  to  him.”  Then  he  ordered  the  dog  to  lick  the 
bitten  place,  so  that  the  biter  might  in  turn  become  the  healer.  The  boy 
at  once  turned  to  his  father,  and  recognized  his  mother,  and  spoke  to  his 
boy-friends,  and  drank  of  the  Cydnus  river.  Nor  did  Apollonius  neglect 
the  dog,  for  after  praying  to  the  river  on  its  behalf,  he  led  it  across  the 
stream.  When  it  reached  the  other  side  the  dog  stood  on  the  bank  and 
barked,  which  mad  dogs  never  do,  and  it  laid  back  its  ears  and  wagged  its 


182 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


tail,  because  it  felt  well  again.  Water  is  the  cure  for  rabies,  if  the  rabid 
dog  can  be  brought  to  face  it. 

Such  deeds  the  Master  did,  for  cities  and  for  temples,  with  the  people 
and  for  the  people ;  for  the  sick,  for  the  dead,  for  the  wise  and  the  simple, 
and  for  rulers  who  chose  him  as  their  adviser  in  virtue. 


BOOK  SEVEN 


183 


BOOK  SEVEN. 

Ephesus — Conspires  with  Nerva  against  Domitian — Aware  that 

THE  EMPEROR  HAS  ORDERED  HIS  ARREST,  HE  SAILS  FOR  ROME - LaNDS 

AT  PuTEOLi — Discussions  there  with  Demetrius — ^Continues 

HIS  VOYAGE  TO  ROME - ArRESTED  ON  ARRIVAL  AND  BROUGHT  BEFORE 

^LiANUs — Consultation  with  him  concerning  charges — Im¬ 
prisoned — Conduct  as  a  prisoner — Private  interview  with  the 

Emperor  Domitian — Chained  and  insulted  by  him  for  con¬ 
tumacy — Proves  to  Damis  that  he  can  free  himself  at  will — 

Is  RELEASED  FROM  FETTERS  BY  THE  EMPEROR - SeNDS  DaMIS  TO 

Demetrius. 

1. 

I  recognize  that  tyranny  is  the  most  searching  test  of  philosophers, 
and  I  am  ready  to  note  how  much  or  how  little  manhood  each  of  them  has 
shown  under  it.  My  subject  also  brings  me  to  this  comparison,  for  during 
Domitian’s  reign  Apollonius  was  beset  by  accusations  and  prosecutions. 
I  will  explain  later  why  and  whence  these  charges  originated,  and  the 
nature  of  each  of  them ;  but  as  I  am  bound  to  describe  the  words  and  the 
demeanor  by  which  he  escaped  sentence,  convincing  the  tyrant  instead  of 
being  himself  convicted,  I  intend  first  to  recount  all  the  notable  doings  of 
philosophers  in  opposition  to  tyrants  which  I  have  been  able  to  discover, 
and  compare  them  with  what  Apollonius  did,  so  that  we  may  form  a  more 
correct  estimate  of  him. 

2. 

Zeno  of  Elea,  who  is  considered  the  originator  of  dialectics,  was  cap¬ 
tured  while  endeavoring  to  overthrow  the  tyranny  of  Nearchus  the 
Mysian,  but  though  stretched  on  the  rack  he  named  none  of  his  confeder¬ 
ates,  accusing  instead  loyal  supporters  of  the  tyrant  as  the  traitors, 
whereby  they  were  put  to  death  as  though  the  charge  had  been  true ;  and 
thus  he  freed  Mysia  by  destroying  tyranny  with  its  own  weapons. 

Plato  claims  to  have  begun  the  struggle  for  freedom  of  the  Sicilians 
by  joining  Dion’s  enterprise. 

Phyto  when  he  had  been  banished  from  Rhegium  took  refuge  with 
the  tyrant  Dionysius  in  Sicily,  and  having  been  treated  by  him  with  greater 
honor  than  a  fugitive  could  expect,  he  learned  the  tyrant’s  plans,  and  that 
he  meant  to  attack  Rhegium.  He  tried  to  warn  the  Rhegians  of  this  by  a 
letter,  but  he  was  detected,  and  the  tyrant  bound  him  on  a  siege-machine 


/ 


184  APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 

which  he  moved  against  the  city  wall  of  Rhegium,  supposing  that  the 
townsmen  would  spare  the  machine  for  fear  of  hitting  Phyto ;  but  he 
called  to  them  to  shoot,  for  that  he  was  the  target  of  their  liberty. 

Heraclides  and  Pytho,  who  slew  Cotys  of  Thrace,  were  both  young 
men,  but  by  frequenting  the  disputations  of  the  academy  they  became 
philosophers,  and  therefore  inspired  with  the  spirit  of  liberty. 

Who  does  not  know  how  Callisthenes  the  Olynthian  was  put  to  death 
because  he  offended  the  Macedonians,  by  praising  and  blaming  them  both 
in  one  day,  when  their  power  was  at  its  height  ? 

Diogenes  of  Sinope  and  Crates  of  Thebes  were  two  other  philoso¬ 
phers  ;  of  whom  Diogenes  upbraided  Philip  immediately  after  the  battle 
of  Chaeronea  for  his  treatment  of  the  Athenians,  in  that  he,  who  called 
himself  a  Heraclides,  had  destroyed  in  battle  that  people  who  had  taken 
up  arms  for  the  Heraclidse.  The  other.  Crates,  when  Alexander  told 
him  he  would  rebuild  Thebes  for  his  sake,  answered  that  he  had  no  use  for 
a  fatherland  which  the  next  captain  of  a  clump  of  spears  could  overthrow. 

Many  other  such  instances  might  be  cited  if  I  could  find  space  for 
them,  but  I  must  offset  them  with  criticism,  not  because  they  are  not  lofty 
and  often-quoted,  but  because  they  fall  below  what  Apollonius  did,  al¬ 
though  they  are  the  best  examples  to  be  seen  in  others. 

3. 

The  exploits  of  Zeno  the  Elean  and  of  the  slayers  of  Cotys  were  not 
especially  praiseworthy,  for  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  enslave  Thracians  and 
Mysians  and  Getse,  but  it  is  foolish  to  endeavor  to  liberate  them,  for  they 
have  not  even  a  wish  for  liberty,  and  they  think  slavery  no  disgrace. 

I  will  not  venture  to  say  that  Plato  acted  under  an  unwise  impulse  in 
giving  his.  efforts  to  restore  order  to  Sicily,  rather  than  to  Athens,  and  that 
he  might  expect  to  be  betrayed  and  sold  when  he  was  acting  treacherously 
himself ;  for  he  has  many  admirers  to  whom  that  would  be  unpalatable. 

Phyto  had  the  hardihood  to  take  sides  against  Dionysius,  when  he 
was  striving  to  establish  himself  in  Sicily;  and  being  sure  of  death  for 
that  anyway,  even  if  he  were  not  shot  by  the  Rhegians,  I  think  there  was 
no  great  glory  in  his  preferring  to  die  for  their  liberty,  rather  than  be  put 
to  death  in  prison. 

Callisthenes  cannot  well  escape  the  charge  of  perversity,  for  in  both 
praising  and  abusing  the  same  men,  he  either  abused  those  whom  he 
thought  praiseworthy,  or  he  praised  those  whom  he  should  have  de¬ 
nounced.  Furthermore,  an  abuser  of  good  men  must  necessarily  be 
malignant,  and  a  flatterer  who  commends  knaves  must  share  the  guilt  of 
their  wrong-doing,  since  bad  men  are  made  worse  by  praise. 

If  Diogenes  had  said  to  Philip  before  the  battle  of  Chaeronea,  what  he 


0 


BOOK  SEVEN 


185 


did  say  after  the  battle,  he  might  have  saved  the  king  from  the  blame  of 
making  war  on  the  Athenians.  He  did  not  help  matters  by  coming  to 
upbraid  him  after  it  was  all  over. 

Lastly,  Crates  should  be  blamed  by  every  patriot,  for  not  encouraging 
Alexander’s  suggestion,  when  he  was  consulted  about  rebuilding  Thebes. 

4. 

Apollonius  was  not  actuated  by  fear  for  an  endangered  fatherland, 
nor  by  despair  of  his  own  life,  nor  was  he  provoked  to  make  imprudent 
utterances,  nor  did  he  fight  for  Mysians  or  Getse,  nor  was  his  foe  the 
chief  of  a  single  island  or  of  a  petty  principality.  He  took  the  field  against 
the  monarch  whom  every  sea  and  land  obeyed  when  his  tyranny  was  harsh, 
and  he  did  so  for  the  sake  of  that  emperor’s  cruelly  oppressed  subjects. 
When  he  opposed  Nero  for  the  same  reason,  his  action  might  be  regarded 
as  skirmishing  rather  than  hand-to-hand  fighting,  for  at  that  time  he  went 
no  further  in  undermining  the  empire  than  encouraging  Vindex,  and  strik¬ 
ing  fear  into  Tigellinus;  and  indeed  some  may  say  that  it  was  no  very 
glorious  exploit  to  attack  Nero,  who  lived  the  life  of  any  harpist  or  flute- 
player.  But  what  will  they  say  of  Domitian,  who  was  full  of  vigor,  and 
who  scorned  those  pleasures  which  are  excited  by  musical  instruments,  and 
by  the  harmonies  which  soothe  the  savage  breast  ?  The  agonies  of  others, 
and  the  moans  of  the  tortured,  he  perverted  into  his  own  monstrous  de¬ 
light.  The  people’s  distrust  of  tyrants,  and  the  tyrant’s  distrust  of  every¬ 
one,  he  called  his  safeguard ;  and  his  method  of  ruling  was  to  stop  work 
at  nightfall  and  begin  to  slaughter,  whereby  the  senate  was  maimed  of  its 
most  distinguished  men,  and  philosophy  was  so  intimidated  that  many 
philosophers  fled  in  disguise  to  furthest  Gaul;  others  to  the  deserts  of 
Scythia  and  of  Africa,  and  some  were  even  frightened  into  publicly  defend¬ 
ing  his  excesses.  But  as  Tiresias  is  represented  by  Sophocles  as  saying  of 
himself  to  QEdipus : 

‘T  do  not  live  a  slave  to  thee,  but  to  Apollo.” 

So  Apollonius  made  philosophy  his  mistress,  and  fearing  nothing  for 
himself,  but  pitying  the  destruction  of  others,  he  emancipated  himself  from 
the  outbreaks  of  Domitian.  He  combined  against  the  emperor  whatever 
youth  there  was  in  the  senate,  and  all  the  sagacity  he  could  find  there,  and 
going  through  the  provinces  he  philosophized  to  the  leading  men,  that  the 
power  of  tyrants  is  not  immortal,  and  that  the  more  feared  they  are,  the 
more  easily  they  are  overturned.  He  discoursed  to  them  of  that  Attic 
Panathenaion,  which  made  Harmodius  and  Aristogiton  famous,  and  of  the 
expedition  from  Phyle  which  dethroned  thirty  tyrants  at  one  blow ;  and  he 
told  them  too  of  the  traditional  achievements  of  the  Romans,  and  how  the 

t 

ancient  republic  shoved  tyrants  out  of  the  city  with  their  shields. 


186 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


5. 

Some  tragedian  came  to  Ephesus  to  act  in  the  play  of  Ino,  and  in  the 
audience  was  the  prefect  of  Asia,  who  was  conspicuous  among  consulars 
notwithstanding  his  youth,  but  who  was  too  weak-spirited  to  join  in 
Apollonius’  plans.  The  actor  was  declaiming  those  iambics  in  which 
Euripides  says  that  tyrants  are  long  in  growing,  but  are  quickly  crushed ; 
when  Apollonius  leaping  to  his  feet,  pointed  to  the  prefect,  and  called  out : 
“That  coward  understands  neither  Euripides  nor  me!” 

6. 

When  word  came  how  strenuously  Domitian  had  acted  to  purify  the 
temple  of  Vesta  at  Rome,  by  putting  three  Vestals  to  death  for  unchastity, 
and  for  not  keeping  themselves  pure  from  marriage,  when  they  should  have 
guarded  innocently  the  Palladium  and  the  undying  fire,  Apollonius  said: 
“O  Sun,  would  that  thou  too  mightst  be  purified  from  all  the  wanton  mur¬ 
ders  with  which  at  this  time  the  whole  earth  is  filled !”  These  things  were 
not  said  behind  the  walls  of  private  houses,  as  timid  men  might  whisper 
them,  but  they  were  openly  delivered  in  address  or  in  prayer,  within  the 
hearing  of  all. 

7. 

When  Domitian  executed  his  relative  Sabinus,  and  married  Julia,  the 
widow  of  the  slain  man,  who  was  his  own  niece  and  a  daughter  of  his 
brother  Titus,  Ephesus  was  offering  public  sacrifices  in  honor  of  the  wed¬ 
ding,  when  Apollonius,  interrupting  the  ceremonies,  exclaimed :  “O  mar¬ 
riage  night  of  the  Danaids  of  old,  why  is  there  only  one  of  you !” 

8. 

He  acted  with  the  same  boldness  in  what  went  on  at  Rome.  In  that 
city  Nerva  was  thought  to  be  conspicuously  qualified  for  the  throne  which 
he  afterward  filled  with  credit  as  Domitian’s  successor,  and  Rufus  and 
Orfitus  were  held  in  the  same  estimation.  Accusing  these  men  of  con¬ 
spiracy  against  himself,  Domitian  exiled  the  last  two  to  the  islands,  and 
ordered  Nerva  to  reside  at  Tarentum.  Apollonius  had  long  been  a  close 
friend  of  all  three,  and  while  Titus  reigned  as  his  father’s  associate,  and 
afterward  as  his  successor,  he  used  to  exhort  them  in  his  letters  to  fling 
away  ambition,  representing  those  emperors  to  them  as  admirable  men ;  but 
he  urged  them  to  revolt  from  Domitian  because  of  his  brutality,  and  he 
endeavored  to  intensify  their  love  of  public  liberty.  Rearing  the  conse¬ 
quences  to  them  if  he  should  send  such  sentiments  by  letter,  for  slaves  and 
friends  and  wives  had  betrayed  many  men  in  high  station,  and  no  man’s 
home  protected  his  privacy,  he  spoke  confidentially  to  the  most  prudent  of 
his  disciples,  as  opportunity  offered,  saying :  “I  am  making  you  the  bearer 


BOOK  SEVEN 


187 


of  a  secret  message  of  the  utmost  importance.  You  must  go  to  Rome  to 
this  man  or  that,  and  find  means  to  speak  with  him,  and  urge  these  argu¬ 
ments  upon  him,  just  as  I  repeat  them  to  you.”  He  was  delivering  a  dis¬ 
course  upon  the  subject  of  fate  and  destiny  at  Smyrna,  near  the  grove 
through  which  flows  the  river  Meles,  when  word  reached  him  that  his 
friends  had  shrunk  from  actual  hostilities,  and  had  been  betrayed  to  the 
tyrant,  after  their  procrastination  had  compelled  them  to  abandon  their 
plans. 

9. 

Foreseeing  that  Nerva  would  become  emperor  in  time,  Apollonius  in 
that  lecture  was  admonishing  his  hearers  that  not  even  tyrants  could 
forcibly  thwart  the  decrees  of  the  Fates ;  and  turning  toward  a  bronze 
statue  of  Domitian  which  stood  near  the  river,  he  cried :  “O  fool !  Flow 
little  have  you  -learned  of  fate  and  necessity !  The  man  who  is  destined  to 
reign  after  you  will  revive  even  if  you  slay  him !”  These  utterances  were  re¬ 
ported  to  Domitian  by  informers  hired  by  Euphrates.  None  of  the  audi¬ 
ence  understood  which  of  those  three  men  was  intended  by  this  prophecy ; 
and  the  emperor,  alarmed  for  his  own  safety,  determined  to  put  them  all 
to  death,  and  to  find  a  plausible  pretext  for  doing  so,  he  summoned 
Apollonius  to  Rome,  to  defend  himself  from  the  charge  of  being  their 
accomplice.  In  deciding  upon  this  course  he  expected  that  one  of  two 
things  would  happen :  either  Apollonius  would  obey  the  summons  and  be 
convicted,  in  which  case  the  execution  of  those  others  would  seem  war¬ 
ranted  in  some  sort  by  the  disclosures  of  that  trial ;  or  else  he  would  go 
into  hiding  by  some  crafty  trick,  and  then  their  execution  would  appear 
even  more  justifiable,  because  of  the  flight  of  their  accomplice. 

10. 

By  his  usual  divine  inspiration  Apollonius  was  cognizant  of  these  de¬ 
signs  of  the  emperor,  and  that  he  had  actually  written  to  the  prefect  of 
Asia  to  have  him  arrested  and  sent  to  Rome.  He  told  his  disciples  that  it 
was  necessary  for  him  to  make  a  secret  journey,  and  they  recalled  the  old 
story  of  Abaris,  and  fancied  that  he  had  some  similar  intention;  but  with¬ 
out  telling  even  Damis  what  he  had  in  mind  he  sailed  to  Achcea,  with  him 
as  his  only  companion.  After  touching  at  Corinth,  where  he  made  his  cus¬ 
tomary  noonday  sacrifice  to  the  Sun,  they  set  sail  again  toward  evening  and 
went  on  toward  Sicily  and  Italy,  where  on  the  fifth  day  of  voyaging  with 
favoring  wind  and  smooth  water  he  landed  at  Dicsearchia  (Puteoli).  There 
he  found  Demetrius,  who  seemed  the  most  venturesome  of  philosophers  in 
dwelling  at  so  short  a  distance  from  Rome ;  and  though  the  Master  knew 
him  to  be  keeping  out  of  the  way  of  the  tyrant,  he  said  to  him  jocularly : 
“1  have  caught  you  luxuriating  in  the  most  delightful  spot  in  happy  Italy, 


188 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


if  it  Still  is  happy ;  the  spot  where  Ulysses  in  Calypso’s  arms  is  said  to  have 
forgotten  his  smoky  home  in  Ithaca.”  Demetrius  embraced  him  with  a 
joyful  shout,  and  cried :  “O  ye  gods !  how  can  philosophy  endure  being  in 
danger  in  the  person  of  such  a  man!”  '‘What  danger  is  she  in?”  asked 
Apollonius;  and  Demetrius  replied:  "Because  you  have  come  here,  and 
with  your  eyes  open,  too,  for  I  know  your  mind  as  I  do  my  own !  But  do 
not  let  us  talk  here.  We  will  go  where  we  can  find  privacy,  and  Damis 
may  come,  too,  for  I  regard  him  as  the  lolaus  of  your  adventures,  my 
Hercules.” 

11. 

Speaking  thus  he  conducted  them  to  the  villa  once  owned  by  Cicero 
and  situated  near  the  city.  They  sat  down  under  a  plane-tree  in  the  gar¬ 
den,  while  locusts  were  chirping  about  them  in  the  refreshing  breeze,  and 
Demetrius  said  as  he  watched  the  insects :  "Happy  creatures,  and  truly 
wise !  The  Muses  taught  you  that  song,  which  has  never  yet  provoked 
prosecution  or  informers;  and  they  have  made  you  too  unappetizing  for 
hunger,  and  have  exempted  you  from  human  malice  among  these  trees, 
on  which  you  joyously  sing  of  your  good  fortune  to  each  other  and  to  the 
Muses  I”  Apollonius  understood  the  drift  of  these  words,  and  meaning  to 
rebuke  them,  as  more  unenterprising  than  he  had  a  right  to  expect,  he 
asked :  "Is  it  because  you  did  not  dare  to  eulogize  locusts  in  public  that  you 
are  hiding  yourself  here,  as  if  the  people  had  established  some  law  forbid¬ 
ding  any  one  to  praise  locusts?”  "I  did  not  say  that  to  praise  them,” 
Demetrius  answered,  "but  to  remind  you  that  while  they  may  sing  as  they 
like,  we  may  not  even  open  our  mouths,  and  that  philosophy  is  found  to  be 
a  crime.  The  complaint  which  was  lodged  by  Anytus  and  Meletus  against 
Socrates  set  forth :  'Socrates  is  a  criminal  because  he  corrupts  youth,  and 
is  introducing  strange  gods.’  But  the  complaint  against  us  philosophers  is : 
'So  and  so  is  a  criminal  because  he  is  wise,  and  upright,  learned  in  knowl¬ 
edge  human  and  divine,  well-versed  in  law.’  As  you  are  the  wisest  of  us  all, 
so  much  the  more  crafty  is  the  indictment  against  you.  Domitian  is  trying 
to  make  you  out  an  accomplice  of  those  offenses  charged  against  Nerva 
and  his  friends,  for  which  they  have  been  exiled.”  "Why  have  they  been 
exiled,  then?”  asked  Apollonius.  "For  that  worst  crime  of  all  nowadays, 
according  to  their  accuser’s  opinion,”  replied  Demetrius.  "He  says  that 
they  have  been  detected  in  a  conspiracy  to  seize  his  throne,  and  that  you 
encouraged  their  plot  by  sacrificing  a  boy.”  "Really?”  asked  Apollonius, 
"that  I  would  seek  to  overturn  the  empire  with  a  eunuch?”  "Not  that  ex¬ 
actly,”  replied  Demetrius,  "but  that  you  sacrificed  a  boy  so  that  you  might 
divine  the  future  of  the  enterprise,  by  inspecting  his  youthful  entrails;  and 
you  are  further  complained  of  because  of  your  costume,  and  of  your  mode 


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189 


of  life,  and  of  the  worship  which  those  things  have  brought  you.  I  have  this 
information  direct  from  Telesinus,  who  is  a  very  good  friend  of  both  of 
us.”  “It  will  be  a  godsend  to  come  across  Telesinus,”  said  Apollonius, 
“if  you  mean  that  philosopher  who  was  a  consul  under  Nero.”  “He  is  the 
man,”  replied  Demetrius,  “but  how  will  you  meet  him?  Tyrants  are  very 
suspicious  of  all  men  of  rank  who  have  any  dealings  with  persons  charged 
with  your  offense.  To  evade  the  edict  against  all  philosophers  which  was 
recently  published.  Telesinus  has  left  Rome,  preferring  to  be  banished  as 
a  philosopher,  rather  than  to  remain  as  a  consular.”  “I  would  not  wish  him 
to  be  exposed  to  any  additional  danger  on  my  account,”  said  Apollonius ; 
“he  is  in  peril  enough  on  account  of  his  philosophy.” 

12. 

“But  tell  me  this,  Demetrius,  what  do  you  think  I  can  say  or  do  to 
shake  off  my  own  apprehensions?”  “The  best  way  is  not  to  joke  about 
it,”  replied  Demetrius,  “and  not  to  call  your  expectations  fears ;  for  if  you 
thought  them  terrifying  you  would  not  be  here,  but  would  have  fled  as 
soon  as  you  heard  of  them.”  “Would  you  have  fled  then,  Demetrius,  if 
you  were  in  my  place?”  asked  Apollonius,  and  Demetrius  replied:  “By 
Athene,  I  would  not,  if  there  were  any  judge  who  would  try  the  case 
fairly;  but  here  there  is  no  such  thing  as  justice,  nor  any  judge  who  would 
listen  to  my  defense,  or  listen  to  any  evidence  at  all,  for  that  matter,  but 
he  would  sentence  me  to  death,  although  I  may  be  entirely  innocent.  Do 
not  ask  of  me  then  to  choose  so  futile  and  slavish  a  death,  rather  than  one 
worthy  of  philosophy.  By  a  death  worthy  of  philosophy,  I  mean  death  to 
free  a  city,  or  to  aid  one’s  parents,  or  children,  or  brothers,  or  other  kins^ 
men,  or  in  fighting  for  friends,  whom  wise  men  should  hold  dearer  than 
any  ties  of  kindred  or  passion.  But  to  be  put  to  death  not  for  actualities, 
but  for  imaginary  crimes  invented  to  make  tyranny  seem  just,  is  far  worse 
than  to  be  rolled  through  the  sky  on  the  fabled  wheel  of  Ixion.  The  very 
fact  that  you  have  come  here  voluntarily  will  probably  be  the  first  thing  to 
be  urged  against  you.  You  may  imagine  that  it  will  be  taken  as  evidence  of 
your  innocence,  from  the  presumption  that  you  would  not  have  dared  to 
come  if  you  were  in  any  way  at  fault ;  but  far  from  that,  Domitian  will  think 
that  you  are  impudently  braving  him,  in  reliance  on  some  occult  power. 
Ten  days  have  not  elapsed  since  he  sent  for  you,  as  I  am  told,  yet  here 
you  are  presenting  yourself  for  trial  before  you  could  possibly  have  heard 
that  you  were  wanted.  That  too  will  lend  weight  to  the  accusation  against 
you,  for  it  will  seem  that  you  learned  the  news  by  sorcery,  which  will  con¬ 
firm  the  story  about  the  boy.  Beware  lest  you  make  yourself  an  illustration 
of  that  lecture  of  yours  in  Ionia,  about  fate  and  necessity,  and  that  when 
some  cruel  fate  has  been  ordained  for  you,  you  do  not  go  spell-bound  to 


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meet  it,  refusing  to  see  that  self-preservation  is  the  truest  wisdom.  If  you 
have  not  forgotten  what  happened  in  Nero’s  time,  you  know  what  my  con¬ 
duct  was  then,  and  that  I  have  no  coward  fear  of  death.  But  there  was 
some  lenience  in  those  days.  Nero’s  lyre  seemed  out  of  tune  with  the  rev¬ 
erence  due  to  his  imperial  station,  but  then  he  did  not  play  it  badly,  and  he 
often  remitted  some  sentences  when  he  had  played  it  particularly  well,  and 
he  sometimes  abstained  from  death  penalties.  For  instance,  he  did  not  have 
me  executed,  when  I  unsheathed  the  sword  of  justice  against  myself  by 
those  speeches  of  yours  and  mine  which  I  delivered  about  the  bath-house ; 
and  his  reason  for  sparing  me  was  that  his  singing  voice  was  sweeter 
than  usual  just  then,  and  he  fancied  he  had  warbled  unusually  well. 
But  now,  for  what  melody  of  voice,  for  what  lyre,  shall  we  offer  sacri¬ 
fices  ?  Everything  is  hostile  to  the  Muses  and  filled  with  the  gall  of  bitter¬ 
ness,  so  neither  his  own  mercy  nor  any  mediator  will  easily  appease  the 
emperor,  in  spite  of  Pindar’s  praise  of  the  lyre,  that  it  soothes  the  frenzy  of 
Mars  and  diverts  his  thoughts  from  battle.  Although  this  emperor  of  ours 
has  indeed  instituted  a  competition  in  music,  in  which  he  was  to  publicly 
crown  the  winners,  yet  he  also  put  to  death  the  worst  of  the  performers  for 
their  playing  and  singing  on  the  last  occasion.  In  addition  to  all  that,  you 
must  look  out  for  the  interests  of  those  princely  friends  of  yours  as  well 
as  your  own.  You  will  destroy  them  at  once  if  you  either  show  yourself 
unduly  confident  or  if  you  offer  any  explanation  which  is  not  accepted. 
Safety  lies  at  your  feet.  You  see  here  many  ships,  bound  for  Libya,  for 
Egypt,  for  Phoenicia,  for  Cyprus,  or  sailing  direct  to  Sardinia,  or  to  even 
more  distant  places.  Your  safest  course  by  far  will  be  to  go  aboard  one 
of  these  vessels,  and  sail  to  one  of  those  places.  Tyrants  are  less  disposed 
to  attack  famous  men  when  they  see  them  trying  to  live  in  obscurity.” 

13. 

Convinced  by  this  appeal  of  Demetrius,  Damis  said  to  him :  ‘Tt  would 
be  a  great  advantage  to  the  Master  if  you  were  accompanying  him  as  his 
friend  instead  of  my  doing  so.  My  influence  amounts  to  nothing,  when  I 
counsel  him  not  to  rush  upon  drawn  swords,  and  not  to  trust  himself  to 
a  despot  more  brutal  than  ever  existed  before.  If  we  had  not  met  you,  I 
would  never  have  known  his  intention  in  making  this  journey;  for  I 
always  follow  him  more  unquestioningly  than  anyone  else  follows  himself ; 
and  if  you  should  ask  me  whither  I  am  sailing,  or  why,  I  would  tell  you 
that  I  am  absurdly  traversing  Sicilian  seas  and  Tyrrhenian  gulfs  without 
knowing  why.  If  I  had  deliberately  assumed  the  risk  after  a  full  explana¬ 
tion  of  the  plan,  I  could  answer  the  question  by  saying  that  Apollonius  is 
in  love  with  death,  and  I  sail  with  him  as  his  rival ;  but  as  I  know  nothing 
about  it,  and  I  can  speak  at  present  only  of  what  I  do  know,  I  will  say  it 


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191 


for  his  sake.  Philosophy  will  suffer  no  great  loss  by  my  death,  for  I  am  like 
the  squire  of  some  valiant  man-at-arms,  whose  only  honor  is  that  he  fol¬ 
lows  such  a  hero ;  but  if  any  one  slays  the  Master,  and  tyrants  are  swift  to 
make  out  a  case  and  to  destroy,  a  monument  may  well  be  erected  to  com¬ 
memorate  the  downfall  of  philosophy,  for  she  will  have  lost  in  him  the 
greatest  philosopher  of  all.  Many  an  Anytus  and  Meletus  are  enlisted 
against  us,  with  accusations  on  every  side  against  the  friends  of  Apollonius, 
charging  one  with  smiling  when  the  Master  inveighed  against  tyranny,  and 
another  with  applauding  his  speech,  and  another  with  urging  him  to  say 
more,  and  another  with  going  away  pleased  with  what  he  had  heard.  I 
believe  that  a  man  should  be  as  ready  to  die  for  the  sake  of  philosophy  as 
for  those  altars  and  homes  and  tombs,  for  which  many  famous  heroes  have 
gladly  laid  down  their  lives ;  but  neither  I,  nor  anyone  else  who  loves 
philosophy  and  Apollonius,  should  die  for  the  purpose  of  dealing  her  so 
mortal  a  blow  as  that.” 

14. 

Apollonius’  answer  was :  ‘‘Damis  may  be  excused  for  urging  caution 
in  the  present  crisis,  for  since  he  is  an  Assyrian,  who  has  lived  next  door  to 
the  Medes  where  despotism  is  worshipped,  he  has  no  deep  convictions  about 
liberty.  But  as  for  you,  Demetrius,  I  do  not  see  how  you  can  defend  your¬ 
self  in  the  court  of  Philosophy,  for  suggesting  fears  which  even  if  they 
were  well-founded,  you  should  rather  dissuade  him  from,  than  to  scare  a 
man  who  fears  things  not  likely  to  happen.  A  wise  man  might  die  for  the 
motives  you  have  mentioned,  and  so  might  a  fool  as  well.  The  laws  com¬ 
mand  us  to  die  for  liberty.  Nature  decrees  that  we  die  for  family  and 
friends  and  loved  ones.  Nature  and  law  enlist  the  service  of  all  men ; 
nature  as  volunteers ;  law  as  conscripts.  It  is  the  philosopher’s  privilege  to 
die  for  his  convictions,  for  the  principles  which  he  has  thought  out  for 
himself ;  and  to  do  so  without  any  compulsion  of  law  or  persuasion  of 
nature,  actuated  solely  by  his  own  constancy  and  faith.  If  any  attempt 
shall  be  made  to  destroy  those  beliefs,  fire  or  axe  may  fall  on  the  philoso¬ 
pher,  yet  none  of  such  arguments  shall  overcome  him  or  force  him  to  a 
lying  recantation.  What  he  has  proved  he  will  hold  fast  to,  as  resolutely  as 
to  the  Mysteries  into  which  he  has  been  initiated.  I  know  a  great  deal  about 
men,  knowing  everything  as  I  do,  but  all  that  I  do  know  relates  partly  to 
good  men,  partly  to  wise  ones,  partly  to  myself,  partly  to  the  gods,  but 
nothing  to  tyrants.  You  may  readily  see  that  I  have  not  come  here  incon¬ 
siderately.  I  fear  no  danger  to  my  own  person,  for  I  could  not  be  slain 
by  tyranny  even  if  I  were  willing ;  but  I  understand  the  risk  my  action  in¬ 
volves  for  those  friends  of  mine,  and  whether  the  tyrant  chooses  to  make 
me  out  out  their  leader  or  their  tool,  I  will  take  whichever  part  he  assigns 


192 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


me.  If  I  should  fail  in  my  duty  to  them  by  showing  myself  either  reluctant 
or  slack  in  defending  the  case,  what  would  honorable  men  think  of  me? 
Who  would  not  be  justified  in  killing  me,  for  playing  false  to  the  friends 
for  whom  all  my  prayers  to  the  gods  have  been  offered?  I  will  show  you 
that  I  could  not  possibly  escape  the  imputation  of  treachery  if  I  did  so. 
Tyrants  have  two  methods.  Some  execute  accused  persons  without  a  trial, 
and  some  only  after  sentence.  The  first  are  like  swift-footed  and  pouncing 
beasts,  the  second  are  duller  ones  and  sluggish.  That  both  are  savage 
is  obvious  to  all  who  take  Nero  as  an  example  of  the  violent  and  hasty 
kind,  and  Tiberius  as  one  of  those  who  lie  in  wait.  Nero  slew  his  victims 
without  warning;  Tiberius  held  them  long  in  terror  of  death  before  it 
fell.  The  worst  tyrants,  in  my  opinion,  are  those  who  hide  behind  a  pre¬ 
tense  of  legality  and  of  regularly  pronounced  but  unjust  sentences.  They 
do  nothing  outside  the  forms  of  law,  but  they  condemn  as  surely  as  those 
who  slay  without  trial,  while  they  give  the  name  of  justice  to  their  long- 
drawn-out  vengeance.  Their  wretched  victims,  because  they  are  executed 
pursuant  to  a  sentence,  are  robbed  of  that  popular  sympathy  which  should 
be  spread  like  a  pall  over  those  who  die  unjustly.  I  see  that  the  outward 
show  of  this  present  tyranny  is  law-abiding,  but  its  action  seems  to  me  a 
mockery  of  justice.  It  first  condemns  men  in  advance,  and  then  summons 
them  to  trial,  as  if  their  fate  had  not  already  been  decided.  The  man  con¬ 
victed  by  the  judgment  rendered  in  such  a  trial  may  protest  that  the  judge 
has  murdered  him  by  deciding  against  the  evidence;  but  if  he  fails  to  ap¬ 
pear  for  trial  how  can  he  avoid  seeming  to  confess  his  guilt  by  default? 
In  this  emergency,  the  fate  of  those  noble  friends  of  mine  depends  entirely 
upon  me.  If  I  abandon  their  defense  as  well  as  my  own,  what  place  on 
earth  would  grant  me  absolution?  Suppose  I  thought  this  advice  sound 
which  you  have  given  me  and  I  acted  on  it,  and  my  friends  were  put  to 
death  in  consequence,  what  prayers  for  a  prosperous  voyage  could  I  put  up, 
after  making  such  an  exhibition  of  myself?  Where  would  I  land?  To 
whom  would  I  flee  ?  I  suppose  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  expatriate  my¬ 
self  from  every  place  in  the  Roman  empire  and  to  betake  myself  to  friends 
living  quite  out  of  sight,  like  Phraotes,  or  the  king  of  Babylon,  or  the  god¬ 
like  larchas,  or  the  noble  Thespesio.  But,  my  dear  friend,  if  I  should  go 
to  the  Ethiopians,  for  instance,  what  could  I  say  to  Thespesio?  If  I  said 
nothing  to  him  about  what  I  had  done,  I  would  show  myself  a  liar,  or 
rather  a  slave.  If  I  did  venture  to  tell  him,  I  would  have  to  say  something 
like  this :  ‘Thespesio,  I  find  in  myself  none  of  those  qualities  which 
Euphrates  falsely  attributed  to  me.  He  told  you  that  I  was  a  braggart,  and 
a  sorcerer,  conceited  enough  to  think  that  I  knew  as  much  as  the  Indian 
Sages  ;  but  I  am  nothing  of  all  that,  nothing  but  the  betrayer  and  murderer 
of  my  friends,  and  there  is  no  faith  in  me.  Such  am  I,  and  I  have  come  to 


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you  to  be  crowned  with  the  crown  of  virtue,  if  there  is  one,  for  having"  so 
overturned  the  greatest  houses  in  Rome,  that  none  will  live  in  them  ever¬ 
more !’  I  see  that  you  blush  to  hear  that,  Demetrius.  Try  then  to  imagine 
Phraotes,  and  me  fleeing  into  India  to  a  man  like  him.  How  could  I  face 
him?  What  excuse  could  I  make  to  him,  for  deserting  them?  Should  I 
confess  that  at  my  first  visit  to  him  I  had  been  an  honorable  man,  ready 
to  die  for  my  friends,  but  that  since  then  I  had  allowed  you  to  persuade 
me  to  discard  as  worthless  this  most  godlike  of  human  qualities?  If  I  went 
to  larchas,  he  would  not  even  ask,  but  just  as  ^olus  in  anqient  days 
ordered  Ulysses  to  quit  his  island  as  an  outcast,  for  making  wrong’  use  of 
his  gift  of  good  weather,  so  larchas  would  drive  me  from  his  hill  with  the 
accusation  that  I  had  desecrated  the  cup  of  Tantalus,  for  they  expect  every 
man  who  stoops  his  head  to  that  to  share  the  dangers  of  his  friends.  I  know 
how  skilful  you  are  in  turning  sharp  corners  in  debate,  Demetrius,  and 
so  you  seem  about  to  suggest  something  like  this  to  me :  ‘Do  not  go  to  any 
of  those  men,  but  to  some  other  with  whom  you  have  no  acquaintance, 
and  then  your  flight  will  turn  out  well,  for  you  will  conceal  yourself  more 
easily  where  you  are  not  known.’  Let  us  see  then  what  merit  this  idea  has, 
and  this  is  my  opinion  of  it.  I  think  that  no  philosopher  lives  isolated,  or 
to  himself  alone,  and  that  no  solitude  can  be  imagined  in  which  he  will  not 
at  least  be  conscious  of  himself.  Whether  that  famous  Delphic  inscription 
came  from  Apollo  direct,  or  through  some  man  who  knew  himself  well 
and  therefore  laid  down  that  rule  for  everyone  else,  I  think  that  man  wise 
who  knows  himself,  and  who  has  his  conscience  to  support  him,  so  that  he 
neither  fears  what  terrifies  the  crowd,  nor  dares  to  do  what  others  are  not 
ashamed  of  doing.  Slaves  of  tyranny  do  not  hesitate  sometimes  to  sacri¬ 
fice  to  it  their  dearest  friends,  dreading  what  they  should  not  fear,  and 
daring  to  do  what  they  ought  to  shun.  Philosophy  does  not  permit  such 
errors,  for  it  follows  the  Delphic  inscription,  and  that  maxim  of  Euripides 
as  well,  which  says  that  remorse  slays  the  man  who  meditates  upon  his 
crimes.  Conscience  brought  the  spectres  of  the  Furies  before  Orestes’ 
eyes,  while  he  raved  about  his  sin  in  slaying  his  mother.  The  mind  decides 
what  is  to  be  done,  but  the  conscience  is  mistress  of  the  mind’s  decisions. 
If  the  mind  decides  well,  conscience  cheers  the  man  with  song  and 
approval  through  every  temple,  every  village,  every  abiding  place  of  gods 
or  men,  and  soothes  his  sleep  with  music,  bringing  him  a  melodious  choir 
from  the  land  of  dreams.  But  if  the  mind’s  footing  slips  into  foulness, 
conscience  does  not  allow  the  man  to  look  others  boldly  in  the  face,  nor  to 
speak  with  clear  voice,  and  it  shuts  him  out  from  temples  and  from 
prayers.  It  does  not  even  let  him  lift  his  hands  to  the  images  of  the  gods, 
but  holds  them  down,  as  the  law  holds  down  threatening  fists.  It  exiles 
him  from  every  gathering  of  men.  It  terrifies  his  sleep,  so  that  everything 


194 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


he  remembers  to  have  seen  or  heard  or  said  during  the  day  it  gives  him 
back  in  airy  dreams,  turning  vague  and  fancied  terrors  into  something 
real  and  horrible.  I  think  that  I  have  now  explained  clearly,  and  with 
manifest  truth,  how  conscience  would  scourge  me  if  I  were  false  to  those 
friends,  whether  the  men  I  fled  to  knew  me  or  not.  I  will  not  be  false  to 
myself  either,  but  I  will  grapple  with  the  tyrant,  making  my  own  that 
saying  of  good  old  Homer :  ‘Mars  is  impartial.’  ” 

15. 

Damis  declares  that  he  was  induced  by  these  words  to  take  courage 
and  confidence  once  more,  and  that  Demetrius  did  not  oppose  the  Master’s 
decision,  but  commended  it,  invoking  the  gods  to  aid  him  in  the  danger  he 
was  to  encounter,  and  to  aid  philosophy  as  well,  for  whose  sake  he  was 
about  to  face  it.  When  he  proposed  to  take  them  to  his  lodgings  Apol¬ 
lonius  declined,  saying:  “It  is  drawing  toward  evening,  and  we  must  be 
at  the  harbor  for  ships  bound  for  Rome  at  nightfall,  according  to  their 
regulations.  We  will  sup  together  some  other  time,  when  I  am  in  good 
standing.  At  present  you  would  get  into  trouble  by  eating  with  one  whom 
the  emperor  has  declared  to  be  his  enemy.  I  do  not  even  wish  you  to 
accompany  me  to  the  harbor,  lest  you  should  be  suspected  of  being  an 
accomplice  because  you  were  seen  talking  with  me.”  Demetrius  yielded, 
and  after  embracing  him  went  away,  looking  back  at  him  and  wiping  away 
his  tears.  Apollonius  glanced  at  Damis,  and  said :  “If  you  have  as  much 
courage  and  confidence  now  as  I  have,  come  and  let  us  both  go  aboard  our 
ship ;  but  if  you  are  down-hearted,  there  is  still  time  for  you  to  stop  here, 
where  until  we  meet  again  you  will  be  with  Demetrius,  who  is  a  faithful 
friend  to  us  both.”  Damis  replied:  “What  should  I  think  of  myself,  if 
after  all  you  have  said  today  about  your  friends,  and  your  sharing  the 
dangers  which  threaten  them,  your  eloquence  had  no  effect  on  me,  and  I 
should  turn  away  and  desert  you  in  your  peril,  when  I  have  never  failed 
you  yet?”  “You  say  well,”  said  Apollonius,  “so  let  us  go.  I  will  make 
no  change  in  my  own  costume,  but  you  should  transform  yourself  into 
something  more  like  a  native,  by  cutting  your  hair  shorter,  and  putting 
on  this  linen  dress  instead  of  your  philosopher’s  cloak,  and  taking  off 
those  bark  sandals.  My  reason  for  suggesting  this  is  that  I  shall  have 
to  undergo  many  hardships  before  my  trial,  but  I  do  not  wish  you  to  be 
arrested  and  subjected  to  the  same  experiences,  as  you  might  be  if  your 
appearance  were  suspicious.  I  wish  you  to  be  my  constant  companion,  and 
to  be  present  on  all  occasions,  not  so  much  in  the  character  of  a  philosopher 
as  of  a  friend.”  Acting  on  this  advice,  Damis  changed  his  Pythagorean 
garb,  and  he  says  that  he  did  not  lay  it  aside  because  he  had  changed  his 
mind  about  it  or  was  afraid,  but  in  order  to  take  a  necessary  precaution. 


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195 


16. 

Three  days  after  leaving  Puteoli  they  entered  the  mouth  of  the 
Tiber,  whence  it  is  a  short  sail  to  Rome.  At  that  time  the  prefect  of  the 
pretorian  guard  was  ^lianus,  an  old  friend  of  Apollonius,  who  had  seen 
much  of  him  in  Egypt.  He  said  nothing  openly  in  his  favor  to  Domitian, 
as  the  nature  of  his  office  did  not  permit  him  to  commend  him  to  the 
emperor,  or  to  intercede  as  a  friend  for  the  man  whom  the  emperor  re¬ 
garded  as  an  enemy.  Nevertheless  he  employed  in  his  behalf  every  secret 
means  of  protection  in  his  power,  justifying  himself  upon  the  ground  that 
so  far  he  had  been  accused  behind  his  back.  “O  Emperor,”  he  said, 
“sophists  are  all  empty  talk  and  charlatan  trickery ;  and  as  they  get  no 
enjoyment  out  of  life  they  court  death,  not  waiting  for  it  to  come  to 
them  in  its  own  due  time,  but  hastening  it  by  provocation  of  those  who 
wield  the  sword  of  justice.  I  think  this  was  the  reason  that  Nero  was 
not  induced  by  Demetrius  to  execute  him;  for  seeing  that  he  was  eager 
to  die,  Nero  commuted  his  death  sentence,  not  from  lenity,  but  because 
of  his  contempt  for  him.  Eor  the  same  reason  he  exiled  to  the  island  of 
Gyara  Musonius  the  Tyrrhenian,  who  constantly  harangued  against  his 
government.  The  Greeks  are  so  devoted  to  such  sophists  that  they  all  used 
to  make  pilgrimages  there  to  see  him ;  and  now  they  go  there  to  see  his 
spring,  for  he  discovered  a  spring  on  the  island  where  no  water  had  been 
found  until  then,  and  the  Greeks  revere  it  as  they  do  the  fountain  of 
Pegasus  on  Mount  Helicon.” 

17. 

^lianus  continued  to  alleviate  the  emperor’s  wrath  with  such  remarks 
until  Apollonius  came,  and  on  his  arrival  he  began  to  act  more  artfully. 
He  ordered  him  to  be  arrested  and  brought  before  him,  but  when  the 
accuser  vilified  the  prisoner  as  a  conjurer  and  a  magician,  ^lianus  told 
him  to  reserve  his  attacks  for  the  trial  before  the  emperor.  Thereupon 
Apollonius  remarked :  “If  I  am  a  magician,  why  am  I  on  trial ;  and  if  I 
am  on  trial,  how  can  I  be  a  magician  ?  unless  perhaps  he  says  that  calumny 
is  invincible  even  by  rnagic  arts.”  At  that  the  accuser  became  so  excited 
that  he  was  about  to  make  some  very  injudicious  retort,  when  ^lianus 
stopped  him  by  saying :  “I  will  avail  myself  of  the  interval  before  the  trial 
by  questioning  this  sophist  concerning  his  state  of  mind  in  private,  and 
without  your  attendance.  If  he  is  willing  to  plead  guilty  the  trial  will  be 
cut  short,  and  you  may  go  home  in  peace.  If  he  denies  his  guilt,  the  em¬ 
peror  will  judge  his  case.”  Thereupon  he  withdrew  with  Apollonius  into 
an  inner  room  of  the  Praetorium,  where  the  more  important  cases  are  in¬ 
vestigated,  saying  to  the  others :  “Leave  us  here,  and  retire  out  of  ear¬ 
shot,  for  such  is  the  emperor’s  order,” 


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APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


18. 

When  they  had  been  left  alone,  he  said:  ‘^Apollonius,  in  the  days 
when  this  emperor’s  father,  Vespasian,  went  to  Egypt  to  offer  sacrifices, 
and  to  consult  you  about  his  plans,  I  was  a  young  man  whom  the  emperor 
took  with  him  there  as  a  military  tribune,  for  even  at  that  age  I  had  some 
experience  in  war.  While  he  was  giving  audience  to  those  cities,  you  hon¬ 
ored  me  with  such  intimacy  as  to  tell  me  privately  where  I  was  born,  and 
what  my  name  was,  and  who  was  my  father.  You  also  foretold  that  I 
would  hold  this  office,  which  is  generally  thought  the  highest  in  the  empire, 
and  greater  than  all  other  preferments  put  together ;  though  to  me  it  seems 
burdensome,  and  the  most  unhappy  position  in  life.  I  am  the  mainstay  of 
a  cruel  tyranny,  but  if  I  overthrow  it  I  must  dread  the  vengeance  of  the 
gods.  It  is  proof  of  my  good  will  for  you,  that  I  tell  you  where  and  how 
my  affection  for  you  began,  and  I  assure  you  that  it  will  never  be  ex¬ 
tinguished  while  that  memory  lasts.  For  the  purpose  of  conferring  confi¬ 
dentially  with  you  concerning  the  charges  which  your  accuser  has  formu¬ 
lated,  I  have  invented  a  plausible  pretext  for  this  interview,  that  you  may 
know  that  you  can  rely  upon  my  favorable  use  of  the  powers  which  have 
been  entrusted  to  me,  and  that  you  may  learn  what  you  have  to  expect 
from  the  emperor.  I  do  not  know  how  he  will  decide  your  case.  His  mental 
attitude  is  that  of  one  who  wishes  to  condemn,  but  dares  not  do  so  with¬ 
out  cause;  and  he  is  trying  to  find  through  you  an  excuse  for  inflicting 
death  on  those  consular  friends  of  yours.  He  wants  what  he  should  not 
have,  and  his  way  of  getting  it  is  to  warp  the  course  of  justice.  So  I,  too, 
must  pretend  to  be  very  eager  for  your  conviction,  for  if  he  should  sus¬ 
pect  me  of  being  remiss,  I  do  not  know  which  of  us  would  die  first.” 

19. 

To  this  Apollonius  replied:  “As  we  are  speaking  frankly  to  each 
other,  and  you  have  revealed  your  inmost  thought  to  me,  I  ought  to  do  the 
same ;  especially  as  you  philosophize  upon  your  position  in  the  way  nearest 
my  heart.  You  have  shown  as  much  sympathy  for  me,  by  Zeus !  as  if  you 
felt  yourself  in  the  same  danger ;  so  I  will  speak  out  freely.  I  might  have 
taken  refuge  in  many  parts  of  the  earth  which  are  beyond  your  jurisdic¬ 
tion.  I  could  have  betaken  myself  to  Sages  wiser  than  I  am,  and  have 
worshipped  the  gods  in  the  right  way  by  going  to  races  of  men  who  are 
dearer  to  them  than  the  people  are  here,  and  where  there  are  no  informers, 
nor  any  prosecutions;  for  they  require  no  courts,  because  they  neither 
do  nor  suffer  any  injury.  But  I  feared  the  imputation  of  treachery  to  my 
friends,  if  through  my  refusal  to  stand  my  trial  those  should  perish,  who 
have  incurred  danger  by  my  instigation.  So  I  have  come  here  to  defend 
myself.  Please  tell  me  what  charges  I  have  to  meet.” 


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197 


20. 

“There  are  several  different  counts  in  the  indictment,”  said  ^lianus. 
“They  complain  of  your  costume,  and  of  your  mode  of  life  generally ;  and 
that  you  have  worshippers ;  and  that  on  one  occasion  you  foretold  a  plague 
at  Ephesus ;  and  that  you  have  preached  against  the  emperor  privately  and 
publicly,  under  what  you  claim  to  be  divine  inspiration.  The  final  charge 
is  the  least  credible  of  all,  for  I  know  that  you  do  not  countenance  the 
shedding  of  blood  of  even  sacrificial  victims,  although  the  emperor  is  quite 
ready  to  believe  the  slander.  It  is  that  you  visited  Nerva  on  his  estate  in 
the  country,  and  there  you  cut  up  an  Arcadian  boy  by  way  of  sacrifice,  to 
procure  the  emperor’s  dethronement;  and  that  you  encouraged  Nerva’s 
enterprise  by  these  rites,  which  were  conducted  at  night  under  a  waning 
moon.  As  this  is  by  far  the  most  serious  charge,  we  need  pay  little  attention 
to  the  others;  for  all  the  complaints  about  clothes  and  mode  of  life  and 
divination  are  incidental  to  this,  and  are  inserted  merely  to  excite  preju¬ 
dice  against  you,  and  to  lend  probability  to  your  performing  that  sacrifice. 
You  must  be  prepared  to  disprove  that ;  but  do  so  in  such  a  way  as  to  show 
no  disrespect  for  the  emperor.”  Apollonius  replied :  “You  may  infer  that  I 
entertain  no  disrespect,  from  my  coming  here  to  plead  my  case  before 
him.  Even  if  I  were  audacious  enough  to  exalt  myself  above  tyrants,  I 
would  yield  to  the  opinion  of  such  a  man  as  you,  who  are  so  much  my 
friend.  To  seem  odious  to  an  enemy  is  not  very  serious,  for  an  enemy’s 
hatred  arises  not  so  much  from  one’s  public  offenses  as  from  his  own 
private  injuries;  but  to  be  accused  of  misconduct  toward  a  friend  is  far 
worse  than  all  the  combined  attacks  of  one’s  enemies,  for  one  must  become 
odious  to  his  friends  too,  if  he  treats  them  unfairly.”  .T^lianus  expressed 
pleasure  at  this  speech,  and  took  courage  himself  by  encouraging  him, 
becoming  convinced  that  the  Master  was  proof  against  fear,  even  if  the 
Gorgon’s  head  should  be  held  up  before  him.  Then  calling  Apollonius’ 
guards,  he  told  them :  “My  orders  are  that  this  man  be  kept  in  custody 
until  the  emperor  learns  of  his  arrival  and  hears  from  him  what  he  has 
said  to  me,”  assuming  at  the  same  time  a  very  angry  look.  He  went  from 
there  to  the  palace,  and  engaged  in  the  duties  of  his  office. 

21. 

Here  Damis  recounts  an  incident  like  that  told  of  Aristides  the 
Athenian  in  some  respects,  but  different  in  others.  When  the  Athenians 
were  voting  with  oyster-shell  ballots  on  the  question  of  banishing  Aristides 
for  his  virtue,  he  met  a  rustic  in  the  city  gateway  who  asked  him  to  write 
on  his  shell  a  vote  against  Aristides,  as  he  did  not  know  how  to  write,  and 
did  not  know  whom  he  was  addressing,  but  did  know  that  he  hated 
Aristides  because  he  was  just.  Now  when  Apollonius  was  being  led 


198 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


away  to  prison  a  tribune,  who  knew  him  very  well,  spoke  insolently  to 
him,  asking  him  why  he  was  arrested.  On  his  replying  that  he  did  not 
know,  the  tribune  went  on:  “I  know  very  well.  You  are  suspected  of 
ambition  for  divine  honors,  because  men  worship  you.”  “Who  has  wor¬ 
shipped  me?”  asked  Apollonius.  “I  have,”  said  the  other,  “when  I  was  a 
boy  in  Ephesus,  and  you  freed  us  from  the  plague.”  “Both  you  and  the 
rescued  city  of  Ephesus  were  right  in  doing  so,”  said  Apollonius.  The 
tribune  said :  “That  is  why  I  have  prepared  a  defense  for  you  which  will 
exonerate  you.  Let  us  go  outside  the  walls,  and  I  will  try  to  behead  you 
with  my  sword.  If  I  succeed,  the  charge  against  you  is  refuted,  and  your 
name  will  be  cleared ;  but  if  you  can  overawe  me  so  that  the  sword  drops 
from  my  hand,  it  necessarily  follows  that  you  are  superhuman,  and  the 
case  against  you  will  be  proved.”  He  was  even  more  of  a  clown  than  the 
man  who  voted  against  Aristides,  for  he  grimaced  and  grinned  as  he 
spoke,  but  Apollonius  paid  no  attention,  and  went  on  conversing  with 
Damis  about  the  way  in  which  the  Delta  of  the  Nile  divides  the  river  into 
several  channels. 

22. 

yElianus,  when  he  had  sent  for  him,  committed  him  to  the  jail  in 

which  prisoners  move  about  unshackled,  and  notified  him  that  when  the 

/ 

emperor  had  leisure  he  wished  to  have  a  personal  interview  with  him  be¬ 
fore  his  trial.  On  entering  the  prison  after  leaving  the  prefect  Apollonius 
said  to  Damis :  “Let  us  converse  with  the  prisoners  here,  for  what  else  is 
there  to  do,  until  the  emperor  sends  to  question  me?”  “They  will  think 
us  intrusive,”  said  Damis,  “if  we  interrupt  their  preparation  of  their  de¬ 
fense  ;  and  besides  it  is  not  right  to  thrust  ourselves  upon  dejected  persons.” 
“On  the  contrary,”  replied  Apollonius,  “such  persons  are  the  very  ones 
who  most  need  to  be  cheered  by  conversation.  You  remember  the  passage 
in  Homer,  where  he  says  that  Helen  dropped  Egyptian  drugs  into  the 
chalice  to  cheer  agony  of  mind;  but  I  think  that  when  Helen,  who  was 
educated  in  Egyptian  knowledge,  soothed  sadness  with  her  chalice,  she 
mingled  the  healing  of  conversation  with  the  wine.”  “That  is  quite  likely,” 
said  Damis,  “if  she  had  in  fact  visited  Egypt,  and  knew  Proteus  there ;  or 
as  Homer  says,  dwelt  with  Polydamna  the  wife  of  Thon.  But  let  us  leave 
them  alone  awhile,  for  I  have  something  to  ask  you.”  “I  know  what  you 
wish  to  ask  me,”  said  Apollonius.  “You  wish  to  hear  all  about  what  I 
said  to  ^lianus,  and  he  said  to  me,  and  whether  he  seemed  dangerous  or 
friendly.”  Thereupon  he  repeated  to  Damis  the  entire  conversation,  and 
Damis  said  reverently :  “I  do  not  question  now  that  the  bright  goddess 
Ino  in  ancient  days  gave  her  veil  to  Ulysses,  to  take  the  place  of  his 
ship  when  he  had  fallen  overboard  and  he  was  measuring  the  sea  with 


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199 


strokes  of  his  swimming  arms ;  for  I  am  sure  that  some  deity  has  stretched 
his  hand  out  to  us,  too,  in  this  time  of  our  dangers  and  trials,  ,so  that  we 
have  not  sunk  beyond  all  hope  of  safety.”  Apollonius  said  to  rebuke  him: 
“How  long  will  you  persist  in  this  timidity  of  yours,  and  in  forgetting 
that  philosophy  subdues  all  she  encounters,  but  she  herself  is  subdued  by 
nothing?”  “But  the  man  we  have  to  deal  with  is  destitute  of  all  percep¬ 
tion,”  said  Damis,  “so  that  he  will  not  be  subdued  by  us,  and  he  believes 
in  nothing  that  can  subdue  him !”  You  have  noticed,  then,  that  he  is  puffed 
up  with  vain  conceit  and  folly,  have  you,  Damis?”  asked  Apollonius,  and 
Damis  answered:  “Indeed  I  have.  How  could  I  help  seeing  it?”  “Then  the 
better  you  know  the  tyrant,  the  more  you  should  despise  him,”  said 
Apollonius. 

23. 

Here  someone,  a  Cilician,  I  believe,  interrupted  their  conversation 
with  the  words :  “Sirs,  my  wealth  is  my  danger !”  Apollonius  replied : 
“If  you  got  your  wealth  criminally,  by  robbery,  or  by  poisoning  people,  or 
by  breaking  open  tombs  built  for  ancient  princes,  which  are  often  full  of 
gold  and  jewels,  you  ought  not  only  to  be  tried  but  to  be  executed. 
Property  acquired  in  such  ways  may  be  wealth,  but  it  is  infamous  and 
blood-stained.  On  the  other  hand,  if  you  have  come  by  it  honestly,  through 
inheritance  or  fair  trade,  and  not  by  cheating,  who  is  so  oppressive  as  to 
extort  your  lawful  property  from  you  by  means  of  a  criminal  prosecu¬ 
tion  ?”  The  man  replied :  “My  wealth  came  to  me  by  inheritance  from  a 
number  of  relatives,  so  that  it  is  now  concentrated  in  my  branch  of  the 
family.  I  do  not  say  that  it  belongs  to  the  public,  for  it  is  my  own ;  but  I 
do  not  treat  it  as  mine  exclusively,  for  I  share  it  with  all  deserving  men. 
Now  informers  are  inventing  the  charge  against  me  that  such  accumu¬ 
lations  of  wealth  as  mine  are  contrary  to  the  emperor’s  interests,  because 
I  might  use  it  as  a  war  fund  if  I  should  get  up  a  rebellion ;  or  it  might  be 
enough  to  turn  the  scale  in  favor  of  some  other  rebel,  if  I  joined  him.  The 
complaint  against  me  declares  oracularly  that  wealth  in  excess  of  a  stated 
amount  makes  any  owner  of  it  disloyal ;  and  that  even  if  it  is  merely  above 
the  average,  it  will  make  him  independent,  and  presumptuous,  and  regard¬ 
less  of  law ;  and  that  the  magistrates,  who  are  sent  to  administer  provinces, 
do  not  even  slap  such  individuals,  but  are  either  actually  bribed,  or  cringe 
to  the  power  of  their  money. 

“For  my  part,  I  thought  everything  delightful  when  I  was  a  young 
man,  and  until  I  owned  a  hundred  talents  I  had  no  anxieties  about  prop¬ 
erty  ;  but  when  five  hundred  talents  came  to  me  in  one  day,  from  an 
uncle  who  died  leaving  me  his  heir,  my  disposition  underwent  a  change, 
just  as  horses  when  broken  in  lose  their  wild  and  undisciplined  natures. 


200 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Then  as  my  riches  increased,  bringing  me  gains  by  land  and  by  sea,  I  be¬ 
came  such  a  slave  to  my  fears  about  them,  that  I  lavished  them  in  all  direc¬ 
tions  ;  sometimes  on  informers,  whom  I  felt  compelled  to  propitiate  with 
such  dogs-meat;  sometimes  on  magistrates  to  purchase  their  protection 
against  blackmail ;  sometimes  on  my  kinsmen,  so  that  they  should  not  covet 
my  property;  sometimes  on  my  very  slaves,  to  prevent  their  disaffection 
through  fancying  themselves  ill-treated.  Besides  I  had  a  flock  of  showy 
dependents  pasturing  on  me,  who  in  their  zeal  for  my  interests  took  charge 
of  most  of  my  affairs  themselves,  and  volunteered  their  advice  to  me  about 
the  rest.  Yet  in  spite  of  my  fortifying  my  possessions  with  such  precautions, 
and  my  reinforcing  them  with  such  a  garrison,  here  I  am,  in  peril  of  my 
life  because  of  them,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  I  can  save  my  neck.”  Apol¬ 
lonius  replied:  “Be  of  good  cheer!  Your  riches  will  serve  to  ransom  your 
body.  They  have  brought  you  here,  but  by  giving  them  up  they  will  set 
you  free  as  well,  not  only  from  this  prison,  but  from  the  servility  to  black¬ 
mailers  and  slaves,  to  whom  you  have  been  subjected  by  them.” 

24. 

Another  prisoner  complained  that  he  had  been  sent  there  because, 
when  he  was  sacrificing  at  Tarentum  as  prefect  of  the  city,  he  had  failed 
to  add  to  his  public  prayers  the  statement  that  Domitian  was  the  son  of 
Athene.  To  him  Apollonius  said :  “That  must  have  been  because  you 
supposed  that  Athene  had  no  children,  as  she  is  an  ever-virgin  goddess. 
Perhaps  you  do  not  know  that  she  once  gave  birth  to  a  dragon,  for  the 
Athenians.” 

25. 

One  man  was  confined  in  the  prison  on  the  following  charge.  He  was 
the  owner  of  a  small  farm  in  Acarnania,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Achelous 
river,  and  having  sailed  in  his  boat  to  the  Echinades  islands  he  saw  that 
one  of  them  had  become  joined  to  the  mainland,  and  he  planted  it  with 
fruit  trees  and  choice  vines,  and  built  himself  a  cabin  on  it  suitable  for 
camping  in,  and  conducted  water  enough  from  the  mainland  to  supply  the 
island.  This  started  a  rumor  in  Acarnania  that  he  was  a  guilty  wretch, 
who  had  been  driven  by  remorse  for  some  unspeakable  crime  to  exile 
himself  from  his  other  farm,  which  he  would  not  have  abandoned  unless 
he  had  polluted  it ;  like  Alcmseon  the  son  of  Amphiaraus,  who  took  up  his 
abode  at  the  mouth  of  the  Achelous  to  expiate  his  guilt  after  slaying  his 
mother.  They  suspected  that  if  this  man  had  not  committed  the  same 
crime,  he  had  doubtless  done  something  equally  horrible,  and  not  very 
different.  He  protested  that  he  was  living  on  his  island  for  no  such  reason 
as  that,  but  only  because  he  enjoyed  the  restfulness  of  it,  but  nevertheless 
they  arrested  him  on  suspicion,  and  jailed  him. 


BOOK  SEVEN 


201 


26. 

After  many  other  prisoners  had  come  to  Apollonius  with  similar  com¬ 
plaints,  for  there  were  about  fifty  of  them  in  all,  some  of  whom  were  ill, 
spme  prostrated  by  grief,  some  awaiting  execution,  some  calling  for  their 
children  or  their  parents  or  their  wives,  he  said  to  Damis :  “These  men 
seem  to  need  that  medicine  I  spoke  to  you  of  awhile  ago.  Whether  it  be 
Egyptian  or  grows  in  other  lands,  philosophy  gathers  it  from  her  gardens, 
so  let  us  offer  it  to  these  poor  creatures,  before  they  die  of  despair.”  “We 
will,”  said  Damis,  “for  they  certainly  need  it.”  Then  Apollonius  called  them 
together  and  said :  “Gentlemen  and  fellow-lodgers :  you  fill  me  with  pity 
because  you  are  destroying  yourselves,  before  you  know  whether  the 
charges  against  you  will  do  so  or  not.  You  seem  to  be  committing  suicide 
in  anticipation  of  the  death  sentence  which  you  expect  to  receive.  You  face 
your  fears  boldly,  but  for  all  that  you  are  afraid.  This  is  not  right.  You 
should  remember  the  words  of  Archilochus  the  Parian,  who  defines  forti¬ 
tude  as  patience  in  adversity,  and  says  that  it  is  a  gift  of  the  gods,  for 
it  lifts  us  above  these  afflictions,  as  sailors  surmount  the  waves  by  their 
skill  when  the  billows  are  actually  curling  over  their  ship.  Do  not  reckon 
these  hardships  frightful  which  have  overtaken  you  against  your  will,  and 
which  I  have  come  to  of  my  own  accord.  If  you  are  conscious  of  your 
guilt,  you  ought  rather  to  bewail  the  day  on  which  your  nature  inclined 
to  sinful  and  cruel  deeds  betrayed  you;  but  if  you,  for  one,  say  that  you 
did  not  live  on  that  island  in  the  Achelous  for  the  reason  which  your 
accuser  asserts ;  and  you,  for  another,  say  that  you  never  plotted  against 
the  emperor  with  your  wealth ;  and  you,  that  you  did  not  mean  to  deprive 
the  emperor  of  his  relationship  to  Athene;  and  none  of  you  confesses  the 
truth  of  the  charges  under  which  you  await  trial  here,  what  is  the  use  of 
this  groaning  over  things  which  do  not  exist?  As  for  your  calling  upon 
your  dear  ones  you  should  rather  be  strengthened  by  them,  because  they 
will  be  the  recompense  for  the  fortitude  you  may  show  now.  Do  you 
answer  me  that  it  is  a  hardship  to  be  shut  up  here,  and  to  live  in  prison, 
even  if  it  is  all  you  may  have  to  endure,  and  not  merely  the  first  instalment 
of  your  woes?  Out  of  my  knowledge  of  human  nature,  I  will  answer  you 
with  a  sentiment  which  works  something  like  a  doctor’s  prescription,  for 
it  builds  up  our  strength,  and  keeps  death  at  a  distance.  Every  man  in  the 
world  is  in  prison  for  the  whole  term  of  what  we  call  life ;  for  this  soul  of 
ours,  so  long  as  it  is  shut  up  in  a  mortal  body,  has  much  to  endure,  and  is  a 
slave  to  every  accident  that  befalls  the  man.  Moreover  the  inventors  of 
housebuilding  apparently  did  not  perceive  that  they  were  only  surrounding 
themselves  with  still  another  prison ;  and  those  who  inhabit  royal  palaces, 
in  which  they  are  safely  guarded,  are  actually  in  stricter  confinement  than 


202 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


those  victims  are,  whom  they  themselves  consign  to  chains.  Then  when  I 
consider  cities,  with  their  walls,  they  impress  me  as  being  general  prisons, 
for  confining  all  their  citizens,  inside  which  they  go  about  the  market¬ 
place,  and  gather  in  town-meeting,  and  attend  shows,  and  march  about  in 
processions.  Even  the  savages  who  live  in  Scythian  carts  are  as  much 
prisoners  as  we,  for  they  are  shut  in  by  Danubes  and  Thermodons  and 
Tanaises,  which  are  rivers  not  easy  to  cross,  unless  they  are  frozen  stiff; 
and  they  live  in  carts,  in  which  they  must  crouch  while  carried  about. 
Unless  it  is  a  nursery  tale,  the  ocean  is  a  chain  fastened  round  the  whole 
earth.  Come,  ye  poets !  It  is  your  province  to  tell  these  repiners,  how 
Saturn  once  upon  a  time  was  fettered  by  the  wiles  of  Zeus  ;  and  how  Mars, 
though  the  greatest  of  warriors,  was  at  one  time  chained  in  heaven  by 
Vulcan,  and  at  another  on  earth  by  the  sons  of  Aloeus.  Let  us  bear  in 
mind  all  these  precedents,  and  the  many  wise  and  holy  men  besides  whom 
brutal  mobs  have  shackled,  and  whom  tyrants  have  trampled  in  the  mire, 
and  let  us  too  endure  these  afflictions  of  ours,  so  that  we  may  not  be 
outdone  in  fortitude  by  the  men  who  have  endured  those.”  These  exhorta¬ 
tions  worked  such  a  change  in  the  prisoners  that  many  of  them  began  to 
eat  again,  and  wiped  away  their  tears,  and  went  in  hope  that  no  harm 
would  come  to  them,  since  Apollonius  was  with  them. 

27. 

He  was  discoursing  to  them  on  the  same  theme  next  day,  when  a  spy 
was  admitted  who  had  been  sent  by  Domitian  to  overhear  what  he  might 
say.  The  man  looked  downcast,  and  as  if  he  was  in  as  much  danger  as  he 
said  he  was ;  but  his  speech  was  glib  enough,  after  the  manner  of  in¬ 
formers,  who  learn  by  rote  eight  or  ten  professional  patters.  Apollonius 
detected  the  snare,  and  held  forth  on  subjects  which  would  not  interest 
him,  such  as  rivers,  and  mountains,  and  trees,  and  wild  beasts,  all  of 
which  entertained  the  others,  but  furnished  no  material  to  the  spy,  who 
tried  to  induce  Apollonius  to  say  something  derogatory  of  the  emperor; 
but  Apollonius  remarked :  ‘^My  good  man,  you  may  say  of  him  anything 
you  like,  for  I  shall  not  inform  on  you ;  but  if  I  have  any  criticism  of  the 
emperor  to  make,  I  shall  make  it  to  his  face.” 

28. 

Other  incidents  occurred  during  his  imprisonment  there,  some  of 
them  deliberately  planned  and  others  accidental,  but  none  of  them  came 
to  anything,  or  are  worth  my  repeating,  although  Damis  gives  a  full 
account  of  each,  lest  he  might  leave  out  something  of  importance,  I  sup¬ 
pose.  This  is  worth  noting,  however.  During  the  evening  of  the  fifth  day 
of  his  detention,  a  man  who  spoke  Greek  came  to  the  prison  and  asked  for 


BOOK  SEVEN 


203 


him,  and  told  him  privately :  ‘‘The  emperor  will  speak  with  you  tomorrow. 
This  intimation  comes  from  ^lianus,  you  understand.’’  “I  do  understand, 
without  your  telling,”  replied  Apollonius,  “for  none  but  he  would  know 
it.”  The  messenger  added:  “Instructions  have  been  given  to  the  jailer  to 
do  for  you  whatever  you  ask.”  “That  is  very  kind,”  said  Apollonius,  “but 
I  always  live  in  the  same  way,  whether  here  or  outside,  for  I  discourse  on 
whatever  occurs  to  me,  and  I  lack  nothing.”  “Not  even  someone  to  advise 
you  how  to  deal  with  the  emperor  ?”  asked  the  other,  and  Apollonius  said : 
“I  would  like  that  very  well,  if  he  does  not  tell  me  to  flatter  him.”  The  other 
said :  “What  if  he  should  tell  you  not  to  treat  him  disdainfully,  and  not  to 
arch  your  eyebrows?”  “Such  advice  would  be  excellent,  and  is  what  I  have 
proposed  for  myself,”  said  Apollonius.  Then  the  messenger  said :  “That  is 
why  I  came,  and  I  am  glad  to  find  you  disposed  to  moderation;  but  you 
must  prepare  yourself  for  the  emperor’s  voice,  and  for  his  savage  stare.  His 
voice  is  harsh,  even  when  he  tries  to  speak  gently;  his  eyebrows  project 
over  his  eyes,  and  his  cheeks  are  yellow  with  bile.  He  makes  the  most  of 
these  intimidating  features,  but  there  is  no  need  to  be  alarmed  by  them, 
Tyanean,  for  they  are  natural  for  the  most  part,  and  always  the  same.” 
Apollonius  replied :  “When  Ulysses  entered  the  cave  of  Polyphemus,  he 
had  no  previous  warning  how  huge  he  was,  or  what  food  he  ate,  or  how 
his  voice  thundered,  yet  he  withstood  it  all,  and  proved  his  manhood  before 
he  left  the  cavern.  I  shall  be  satisfied  if  I  come  out  with  safety  for  my¬ 
self  and  for  those  friends  for  whose  sake  I  have  come  into  this  danger.” 
After  this  conversation  with  his  visitor,  and  after  repeating  it  to  Daniis, 
he  went  to  sleep. 

29. 

Toward  dawn  a  clerk  of  the  imperial  court  entered  and  said  to  him: 
“The  emperor  summons  you  to  come  to  the  palace  at  the  time  of  full  mar¬ 
ket,  Apollonius,  not  for  your  trial  at  this  time,  but  because  he  wishes  to 
see  what  kind  of  man  you  are,  and  to  have  a  private  interview.”  “Why  do 
you  tell  that  to  me  ?”  asked  the  Master,  and  the  clerk  asked :  “Are  you  not 
Apollonius,  then?”  “Certainly  I  am,  and  from  Tyana  too,”  he  answered. 
“Then  to  whom  should  I  say  it?”  asked  the  clerk,  and  he  replied:  “To  the 
men  who  are  to  take  me  there,  for  seeing  I  am  in  prison  that  is  the  only 
way  that  I  can  go  anywhere.”  The  clerk  said :  “The  orders  have  already 
been  given  them,  and  I  myself  will  be  here  at  the  time  of  starting.  I  have 
come  now  to  give  you  warning,  for  the  arrangement  was  only  made  late 
last  evening.” 

30. 

When  the  clerk  had  gone  Apollonius  lay  back  on  his  couch  and  said 
to  Damis :  “I  need  sleep,  for  I  lay  awake  last  night  trying  to  recall  some- 


204 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


thing  which  Phraotes  said  to  me.”  Damis  replied:  ‘‘You  would  much 
better  stay  awake,  to  think  what  you  will  say  in  that  interview  which  has 
just  been  announced  to  you,  and  which  is  so  momentous.”  Apollonius 
answered :  “How  can  I  think  what  to  say,  when  I  do  not  know  yet  what 
he  will  ask?”  “Will  you  plead  for  your  life  offhand  then?”  asked  Damis. 
“By  Zeus,  yes,”  he  replied,  “for  I  am  living  it  offhand  too.  But  I  must  tell 
you  Phraotes’  instructions,  as  well  as  I  can  recall  them,  for  you  will  agree 
with  me  that  they  are  applicable  to  our  present  circumstances.  Phraotes’ 
orders  to  his  lion-tamers  are,  that  they  must  never  strike  the  lions,  because 
lions  once  beaten  never  forget  the  injury;  nor  must  they  pet  them,  because 
they  would  become  spoiled ;  but  they  could  make  them  docile  by  stroking 
them  softly  and  showing  the  whip  at  the  same  time.  When  he  told  me 
about  it,  we  were  not  discussing  lions,  but  he  suggested  it  as  the  right  way 
to  curb  tyrants,  and  thought  that  no  one  who  used  it  would  be  forced  to  go 
to  extremes.”  “That  instruction  squares  very  well  with  the  nature  of  ty¬ 
rants,”  said  Damis ;  “but  ^sop  tells  of  another  lion,  in  a  den,  who  he  says 
was  not  really  ill  though  he  pretended  to  be,  and  who  used  to  pounce  on  any 
beasts  which  came  to  see  him ;  and  the  fox  asked  the  question :  ‘what  in¬ 
ference  should  we  draw  from  the  fact  that  nobody  comes  away  from  him 
and  there  is  no  track  of  anyone  going  out  ?’  ”  Apollonius  said  to  that :  “I 
think  the  fox  would  have  shown  greater  wisdom,  if  he  too  had  entered  the 
den,  and  had  made  his  own  tracks  out  without  being*  caught.”  Then  he 
snatched  a  short  nap,  hardly  closing  his  eyes. 

31. 

When  the  sun  rose  he  worshipped  that  luminary  as  well  as  he  might  in 
prison,  and  then  conversed  with  all  who  came  to  him,  on  whatever  subject 
they  wished  to  ask  him  about.  A  little  before  noon  the  clerk  of  the  court 
came  to  tell  him  that  they  should  go  at  once  to  the  palace-gate,  lest  his  name 
should  be  called  before  they  reached  there.  “Let  us  start  without  delay,” 
said  Apollonius,  and  went  quickly  forward,  with  four  pikemen  following 
him,  at  a  greater  distance  than  guards  usually  go.  Damis  brought  up  the 
rear,  secretly  very  anxious,  but  trying  to  look  merely  thoughtful.  Every 
one  they  met  stared  at  Apollonius,  for  his  dress  was  unusual,  and  they 
evidently  wondered  at  the  sight  of  him,  as  if  awestruck  by  something  super¬ 
natural;  moreover,  his  coming  into  danger  for  his  friends  conciliated 
even  his  former  critics. 

While  he  stood  waiting  before  the  palace-gate,  he  watched  the  throng 
of  courtiers  and  courted  who  were  noisily  pressing  in  and  out  of  the 
doors,  and  he  said  to  Damis :  “It  reminds  me  of  a  bath-house,  where  the 
outsiders  crowd  in  to  get  clean,  and  the  washed  ones  inside  crowd  out.” 


BOOK  SEVEN 


205 


This  comparison  was  certainly  original  with  Apollonius,  for  it  also  appears 
in  one  of  his  letters. 

On  seeing  an  infirm  old  man  who  was  seeking  an  office,  and  to  obtain 
it  was  degrading  himself  by  truckling  to  the  emperor,  he  said :  “Not  even 
Sophocles,  Damis,  has  persuaded  this  old  fellow  to  renounce  a  mad  and 
brutal  master.”  “We  have  chosen  the  same  master,  Apollonius,”  said  Damis, 
“and  we  are  standing  before  his  doors  too,  this  very  minute.”  Apollonius 
replied :  “You  seem  to  think  that  ^acus  guards  these  doors  as  he  does 
those  of  Hades,  for  you  look  dead  enough.”  “I  am  not  dead  yet,  but  I 
soon  will  be,”  said  Damis. 

Then  Apollonius  said :  “I  see  that  you  are  not  yet  prepared  for  death, 
Damis,  though  you  have  lived  with  me  so  long,  and  have  devoted  yourself 
to  the  study  of  philosophy.  I  had  supposed  that  you  were  ready  to  face  it, 
and  that  you  knew  all  the  art  I  have,  of  rallying  your  forces  to  meet  it. 
Pugilists  and  warriors  need  not  merely  courage,  but  that  skill  which  can 
avail  itself  of  favorable  chances  in  the  fight;  and  in  the  same  way  philoso¬ 
phers  should  select  suitable  conditions  for  dying,  so  that  they  may  meet 
death  at  the  chosen  time  with  dignity  and  deliberation.  I  have  often  told 
others  in  your  hearing,  and  have  wearied  you  with  the  repetition,  that  if 
any  one  shall  decide  to  slay  me,  I  will  select  the  mode  of  death  which  will 
be  best  for  me,  and  most  advantageous  to  philosophy.” 

32. 

The  conversation  ended  there,  for  officials  charged  with  that  duty  then 
conducted  him  into  the  palace,  where  the  emperor  had  arranged  to  speak 
with  him  by  putting  off  all  other  business  in  hand;  but  Damis  was  not 
allowed  to  accompany  him.  The  emperor  had  just  completed  a  sacrifice  to 
Athene  in  the  hall  of  Adonis,  and  was  still  wearing  a  wreath  of  olive- 
shoots;  and  the  hall  bloomed  with  beds  of  those  flowers  which  the  Syrians 
grow  indoors  for  the  rites  of  Adonis.  Still  bending  over  the  sacrifice, 
the  emperort  looked  over  his  shoulder  as  Apollonius  entered,  and  was 
so  amazed  by  the  appearance  of  the  man  that  he  cried;  “^lianus,  you 
have  brought  me  a  divinity !”  Quite  at  his  ease  Apollonius  seized  on  the 
exclamation  to  say:  “O  Emperor,  I  had  supposed  that  Athene  had  pro¬ 
vided  for  you  in  the  same  way  that  she  once  did  for  Diomedes  at  Troy, 
when  she  cleared  from  his  eyes  that  mist  which  dulls  our  mortal  sight,  so 
that  he  could  discern  gods  as  well  as  men.  But  evidently  she  has  not  yet 
withdrawn  that  veil  from  you,  for  if  she  had  you  would  know  her  better, 
and  moreover  you  would  not  introduce  figures  of  men  among  the  statues 
of  the  gods.”  The  emperor  asked :  “When  was  that  mist  taken  from  your 
eyes,  philosopher?”  “Long  ago,”  he  answered;  “as  soon  as  I  became  a 
philosopher.”  “Why  then  do  you  treat  as  gods  those  men  who  are  my  bit- 


206 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


terest  enemies  ?”  asked  the  emperor ;  and  Apollonius  replied :  “What  quar¬ 
rel  can  you  have  with  the  Indians  larchas,  or  Phraotes  ?  For  they  are  the 
only  men  whom  I  consider  godlike,  or  worthy  to  be  called  divine  ?”  “Do  not 
try  to  change  the  conversation  to  Indians,”  said  the  emperor,  “but  answer 
me  about  Nerva,  that  intimate  friend  of  yours,  and  about  his  accomplices 
in  crime.”  Apollonius  began:  “I  will  speak  in  his  behalf,  but” — when  the 
emperor  interrupted  him:  “You  need  not  speak  in  his  behalf,  for  he  is 
convicted  already.  I  want  you  to  give  me  some  reason  why  you  yourself 
are  not  guilty  as  an  accomplice  of  the  same  crimes.”  “Listen  then,”  said 
Apollonius,  “if  you  wish  to  hear  what  my  relations  with  him  were,  for  why 
should  I  hide  the  truth?” 

33. 

The  emperor  was  expecting  to  hear  revelations  of  great  importance, 
and  to  obtain  all  the  evidence  needed  for  putting  those  consulars  to  death ; 
and  seeing  that  he  was  misled  by  this  hope,  Apollonius  continued:  “Of 
my  own  knowledge,  Nerva  is  one  of  the  most  law-abiding  and  inoffensive 
of  men,  and  the  most  loyal  to  you ;  a  good  administrator,  but  so  timid  about 
assuming  responsibility  that  he  refuses  to  accept  office.  When  you  speak 
of  his  accomplices,  unless  I  am  mistaken  you  refer  to  Rufus  and  Orfitus. 
They  too,  so  far  as  I  know,  are  law-abiding,  and  averse  from  money-get¬ 
ting,  but  rather  sluggish  in  their  activities,  and  not  men  either  to  plan 
rebellion  or  to  join  it.”  Bursting  with  rage,  the  emperor  shouted:  “Do  you 
accuse  me  then  of  slandering  those  men,  whom  you  call  loyal  and  sluggish, 
and  whom  I  have  found  to  be  most  infamous  assailants  of  my  throne  ?  No 
doubt  if  I  should  ask  them  about  you,  they  too  would  assure  me  that  you 
are  not  a  sorcerer,  nor  an  agitator,  nor  a  vagabond,  nor  a  money- 
grubber,  nor  a  man  who  sets  himself  above  the  laws.  You  filthy  scoundrels 
are  all  in  that  same  villainous  conspiracy  together !  When  your  case  is  tried, 
the  whole  plot  will  be  brought  to  light;  for  I  know  already,  as  well  as  if  I 
had  been  one  of  the  conspirators  present  there,  what  oath  was  sworn  by 
each  of  you,  and  on  what  victim  you  swore  it,  and  when,  and  with  what 
fearful  rites.”  Unterrified  even  by  this  outburst,  Apollonius  said :  “It  is 
shameful  and  illegal  for'  you,  O  Emperor,  to  sit  in  judgment  on  men  whose 
guilt  you  are  convinced  of,  or  to  form  any  such  opinion  before  you  hear  the 
evidence.  But  if  you  intend  to  act  as  judge,  let  me  begin  my  defense  now. 
You  have  a  bad  opinion  of  me,  O  Emperor,  for  you  say  worse  things  of 
me  than  my  accuser  does.  He  merely  undertakes  to  prove  his  charges, 
while  you  take  everything  for  granted  without  any  proof  at  all.”  “You  may 
begin  your  defense  when  you  like,”  said  the  emperor,  “but  I  know  how  I 
will  end  it,  and  how  you  would  better  start  in.” 


BOOK  SEVEN 


207 


34. 

He  began  at  once  to  inflict  outrages  upon  Apollonius,  by  causing  his 
hair  and  beard  to  be  clipped  off,  and  ordering  him  to  be  shackled  among 
the  lowest  criminals.  While  they  were  shearing  him  he  said :  “O  Emperor, 
I  never  thought  my  hair  would  become  a  source  of  danger  to  me and 
while  they  were  fettering  him  he  said :  “If  you  think  me  a  sorcerer,  how 
do  you  expect  to  keep  me  in  irons ;  and  if  you  do  keep  me  in  irons,  why 
should  you  call  me  a  sorcerer  ?”  The  emperor  retorted :  “I  shall  keep  you 
in  them,  unless  you  change  yourself  into  water,  or  into  some  beast  or  tree 
and  Apollonius  replied :  “I  would  not  change  myself  so,  even  if  I  could, 
for  I  will  never  desert  the  cause  of  those  unjustly  persecuted  men.  In  the 
shape  I  have  I  will  submit  myself  to  everything  you  may  do  to  this  body, 
until  I  shall  have  delivered  my  plea  for  them.”  “Who  then  will  plead  for 
you?”  demanded  the  emperor,  and  Apollonius  answered:  “Time,  and  the 
inspiration  of  the  gods,  and  that  love  of  philosophy  in  which  I  live.” 

35. 

This  was  the  opening  skirmish  of  his  defense,  which  occurred  at  the 
private  hearing  before  Domitian,  as  it  is  related  by  Damis.  Some  hostile 
writers  say  that  his  trial  took  place  first,  and  that  he  was  not  shackled  or 
sheared  until  after  that,  and  they  have  forged  a  long-winded  letter  in  the 
Ionic  dialect,  in  which,  as  they  assert,  Apollonius  humbly  begged  Domitian 
to  release  him  from  his  fetters.  It  is  true  that  Apollonius  wrote  his  last 
will  in  Ionic,  but  I  have  never  come  across  any  letter  of  his  written  in  that 
dialect,  nor  have  I  ever  found  him  verbose  in  any  of  his  letters,  all  of  which 
have  the  brevity  of  a  Spartan  military  dispatch.  Besides,  he  vanished 
from  the  courtroom  after  winning  his  case,  and  how  could  he  have  been 
shackled  then,  after  his  acquittal  had  been  pronounced?  However,  our 
story  has  not  yet  reached  the  proceedings  at  the  trial,  and  we  will  first 
tell  of  the  conversation  on  the  subject  of  his  shearing,  which  is  noteworthy. 

36. 

Two  days  after  he  had  been  put  in  irons  a  man  came  to  him  in  the 
prison,  who  said  that  he  had  bought  admission  to  see  him,  and  that  he  had 
come  to  advise  him  how  to  save  himself.  He  was  a  Syracusan,  and  em¬ 
ployed  as  the  mind  and  tongue  of  Domitian,  for  the  same  purpose  as  that 
other  previous  spy,  but  was  more  apt  to  inspire  confidence ;  for  the  other 
beat  about  the  bush,  but  this  man  came  straight  to  the  point.  “Ye  gods !” 
he  cried,  “who  would  have  thought  that  Apollonius  would  be  shackled?” 
“The  man  who  shackled  me,”  said  Apollonius,  “for  otherwise  he  would 
not  have  done  it.”  The  other  went  on :  “who  would  have  thought  that  your 
ambrosial  locks  would  be  sheared?”  “I  did,”  said  Apollonius;  “I  grew 


208 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


them  for  the  purpose.”  “How  can  you  endure  such  treatment?”  asked  the 
other,  and  he  replied :  “As  a  man  should,  who  has  come  here  neither  will¬ 
ingly  nor  unwillingly.”  “How  does  your  leg  stand  it?”  the  man  asked. 
Apollonius  answered :  “I  don’t  know,  for  my  mind  is  busy  on  other  mat¬ 
ters.”  “But  the  mind  is  affected  by  pain,  as  much  as  the  body,”  said  the 
other.  “Not  at  all,”  replied  Apollonius;  “for  the  mind  of  such  a  man  as  I 
am  either  does  not  feel  pain  at  all,  or  overcomes  it.”  “What  then  is  your 
mind  engaged  with  ?”  the  other  asked,  and  he  replied :  “With  that  very 
thing,  not  to  pay  attention  to  such  trifles.”  His  visitor  referred  again  to 
his  hair  and  tried  to  bring  the  conversation  back  to  that  subject,  but 
Apollonius  said:  “Young  man,  it  is  lucky  for  you  that  you  were  not  one 
of  the  Greeks  at  the  siege  of  Troy !  I  can  imagine  how  bitterly  you  would 
have  wept  over  Achilles  cutting  off  his  hair  for  Patroclus,  if  it  is  true  that 
he  did ;  and  how  you  would  have  swooned  away  upon  the  cuttings.  If  you 
lament  so  the  loss  of  my  hair,  which  was  grizzled  and  sunburnt,  think  of 
the  grief  you  would  have  felt  for  his  curled  and  golden  locks !” 

The  man’s  secret  purpose  in  this  conversation  was  to  learn  what 
affliction  Apollonius  felt  most,  and  especially  to  get  him  to  abuse  the 
emperor  for  what  had  occurred.  Foiled  so  far  in  this  intent,  he  said :  “The 
emperor  dislikes  you  for  many  reasons,  but  most  of  all  because  you  were 
mixed  up  in  the  alleged  crimes  of  which  Nerva  and  his  confederates 
are  accused.  Then  too,  rumors  have  reached  him  of  speeches  against 
himself,  which  you  delivered  in  Ionia,  and  which  were  meant  to  stir 
up  sedition ;  but  it  is  said  that  he  is  willing  to  overlook  that,  and  that 
his  wrath  against  you  is  due  to  the  other  more  serious  charges,  although 
the  man  who  has  informed  about  the  speeches  is  very  famous.”  “He  must 
be  like  a  victor  at  the  Olympic  games  in  his  specialty,  if  he  has  earned 
fame  by  his  skill  in  slander,”  said  Apollonius ;  “I  recognize  him  by 
that,  as  that  fellow  Euphrates,  who  is  always  trying  to'  do  me  an  ill  turn ; 
but  he  has  succeeded  better  in  it  on  other  occasions.  Once  when  he 
heard  that  I  was  about  to  visit  the  Gymnosophists  in  Ethiopia,  he  slandered 
me  to  them ;  and  if  I  had  not  discovered  his  artifices  in  time,  I  might  per¬ 
haps  have  been  compelled  to  turn  back  without  even  seeing  them.”  The 
Syracusan  said  with  great  surprise:  “Do  you  consider  that  the  risk  of 
appearing  dishonorable  to  those  Gymnosophists  through  his  trickery  was 
so  much  more  serious  a  matter  than  the  emperor’s  enmity?”  “By  Zeus, 
yes !”  replied  Apollonius,  “for  I  went  there  to  learn,  but  I  have  come 
here  only  to  teach.”  “To  teach  what?”  the  other  asked,  and  he  replied: 
“That  I  am  a  good  and  honorable  man,  which  is  something  the  emperor 
does  not  yet  know.”  “There  are  some  things  you  could  teach  him  which 
would  be  greatly  to  your  interest,”  the  other  said,  “and  if  you  had  told 


BOOK  SEVEN 


209 


them  to  him  before  you  came  here,  you  would  not  have  been  fettered.” 
Apollonius  perceived  that  the  object  of  the  Syracusan’s  suggestions  was  the 
same  as  the  emperor’s,  expecting  that  he  would  bear  false  witness  against 
the  consulars  to  procure  his  own  release,  so  he  said :  “My  dear  friend,  if  I 
have  been  put  in  irons  for  telling  Domitian  the  truth,  what  would  have  hap¬ 
pened  to  me  if  I  lied  to  him?  In  his  opinion  truth  deserves  chains,  but 
in  mine  falsehood  does.” 

37. 

The  Syracusan  left  the  prison  complimenting  him  as  a  super-philoso¬ 
pher,  for  so  he  called  him  as  he  went  away ;  and  turning  to  Damis  Apol¬ 
lonius  said:  “Do  you  understand  what  that  Pytho  was  doing?”  Damis  re¬ 
plied  :  “I  understood  very  well  that  he  was  setting  traps  and  snares  for 
you ;  but  I  do  not  understand  what  you  mean  by  Pytho,  nor  why  you  apply 
the  name  to  him.”  Apollonius  said :  “Pytho  is  said  to  have  been  a  Byzan¬ 
tine  orator,  who  excelled  in  giving  plausible  reasons  for  bad  designs,  and 
he  was  sent  by  Philip,  the  son  of  Amyntas,  as  an  envoy  to  the  Greeks,  to 
bring  about  their  subjugation.  Passing  by  the  other  cities  he  went  at  once  to 
Athens,  where  the  art  of  oratory  had  then  reached  its  highest  development, 
and  there  he  told  them  that  they  had  done  Philip  an  injustice  in  opposing 
him,  and  that  they  were  making  a  great  mistake  in  defending  the  liberty 
of  Greece.  Pytho  was  eloquent  on  this  subject,  but  Demosthenes  the 
Pseanian,  who  was  the  only  speaker  in  opposition  to  his  audacious  argu¬ 
ments,  calls  it  one  of  his  triumphs  that  he  withstood  him.  In  this  case 
I  do  not  claim  credit  for  myself  because  I  did  not  let  myself  be  led  where 
the  man  wished  me  to  go,  but  nevertheless  I  called  him  Pytho  because  he 
came  in  the  pay  of  a  tyrant  to  persuade  me  to  act  shamefully.” 

'  38. 

Damis  says  that  Apollonius  said  much  more  to  the  same  effect,  but 
that  he  himself  was  very  anxious  about  this  ominous  treatment,  and  saw  no 
escape  for  the  Master  except  by  some  such  miracle  as  the  gods  had  occa¬ 
sionally  granted  to  prayer  in  even  more  desperate  conditions.  So  a  little 
before  noon  he  said  to  him:  “O  Tyanean,”  (for  it  pleased  the  Master  to  be 
so  addressed)  “what  will  happen  to  us  ?”  “Nothing  more  than  has  happened 
to  us  already,  for  no  one  will  kill  us,”  replied  Apollonius.  “Who  is  so 
invulnerable  as  that?  And  when  will  you  be  freed  from  your  chains?” 
asked  Damis.  “So  far  as  any  decision  of  the  emperor  is  concerned,  I  am 
to  be  freed  today,”  said  Apollonius :  “And  so  far  as  my  own  decision  goes, 
I  can  be  free  this  instant !”  and  with  the  word  he  drew  his  leg  out  of  the 
shackles,  and  went  on :  “This  shows  you  that  I  am  free  whenever  I  like,  so 
keep  your  courage  up.”  Damis  says  that  then  for  the  first  time  he  fully 
recognized  the  Master’s  superhuman  and  supernatural  quality,  when  with- 


4^ 


210 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


out  offering  any  sacrifice  (for  how  could  sacrifice  be  offered  in  that 
prison?),  and  without  invoking  the  gods,  or  uttering  a  syllable  of  incanta^ 
tion,  he  had  set  his  fetters  at  nought ;  for  thrusting  his  leg  back  into  them 
he  showed  himself  chained  fast  as  before. 

39. 

The  more  simple-minded  of  mankind  attribute  such  doings  to  magic, 
and  seek  its  aid  in  many  human  affairs.  Athletes  ask  charms  to  help  them 
win,  and  so  do  all  their  competitors.  Charms  really  do  not  affect  the  result, 
but  the  winners  attribute  their  lucky  success  to  magic,  disparaging  their 
own  efforts  in  their  abasement;  and  they  persist  in  believing  its  efficacy, 
though  it  has  failed  them.  “If  I  had  only  sacrificed  this  thing,  or  burned 
that,  I  could  not  have  helped  getting  the  prize  \”  So  they  say,  and  so  they 
believe.  Sorcery  sits  likewise  on  the  merchant’s  doorsill,  and  we  see  him 
ascribing  to  some  wizard  any  profitable  stroke  of  business,  and  blaming 
his  own  parsimony  if  he  makes  a  losing  venture,  because  he  had  not  spent 
enough  on  incantations.  Magic  has  an  especial  attraction  for  lovers.  When 
those  afflicted  by  that  delusive  ailment  will  even  consult  old  women  about 
it,  no  wonder  that  they  pin  their  faith  to  sorcerers,  and  prick  up  their  ears 
at  promises  of  Venus’  girdle  to  wear,  or  of  gems  from  the  depths  of  the 
earth  or  moon  or  stars,  or  of  all  the  spices  of  India,  none  of  which  have 
any  effect,  but  they  cost  exorbitantly.  If  the  love-affair  prospers,  either 
because  the  beloved  object  reciprocates  the  lover’s  passion,  or  is  won  over 
by  his  gifts,  the  magic  he  has  employed  is  extolled  by  him  as  infallible  in 
all  cases.  On  the  other  hand,  if  his  wooing  fails,  the  blame  is  thrown  on 
some  omission ;  that  he  omitted  to  burn  this,  or  sacrifice  that,  or  melt  down 
the  other  thing,  each  of  which  was  of  course  a  potent  and  indispensable 
charm.  Many  of  those  who  scoff  at  magic  have  gone  so  far  as  to  write 
volumes  setting  forth  the  methods  by  which  they  produce  wonderful 
miracles  and  similar  portents.  Young  people  who  take  my  advice  will  avoid 
such  writers  too,  lest  they  learn  to  make  light  of  sacred  subjects.  But  I 
have  wandered  far  enough  afield,  for  why  should  I  dwell  longer  on  a 
practice  which  is  forbidden  by  nature  as  well  as  by  law. 

40. 

After  the  Master’s  demonstration  of  his  ability  to  free  himself  at  will, 
they  conversed  until  nearly  noon,  when  a  man  came  in  shouting :  “By  the 
intercession  of  ^lianus  the  emperor  orders  your  release  from  these  irons, 
Apollonius,  and  allows  you  to  remain  in  your  former  prison  until  your 
trial,  which  will  probably  be  on  the  fifth  day  from  today.”  “Who  will  take 
me  away  from  here?”  asked  Apollonius.  “I  will,”  said  the  man,  “follow 
me.”  The  inmates  of  the  unshackled  prison  all  crowded  around  him  when 


BOOK  SEVEN 


211 


they  saw  him  restored  to  them  once  more,  after  they  had  given  np  all  hope 
for  him.  He  was  held  in  the  same  affection  by  them  as  a  father  is  loved 
by  his  children,  whom  he  gently  and  considerately  corrects,  and  tells  of 
his  own  boyish  experiences,  and  they  showed  it ;  while  Apollonius  himself 
never  ceased  to  aid  them  by  his  counsels. 

41. 

Next  day  he  said  to  Damis :  “The  trial  will  come  off  on  the  day  set 
for  it;  and  I  want  you  to  go  to  Puteoli,  by  the  land  route,  which  will 
be  the  best  for  you  to  take ;  and  after  you  have  greeted  Demetrius  go  down 
to  the  sea-shore  opposite  the  island  of  Calypso,  and  there  you  will  see  me 
appear.”  “Alive,  or  how  ?”  asked  Damis.  Apollonius  replied  with  a  laugh : 
“Alive,  in  my  opinion;  though  perhaps  you  may  think  me  resurrected.” 
Damis  says  that  he  left  him  reluctantly,  neither  sure  that  he  would  be 
killed,  nor  very  confident  that  he  would  not.  After  travelling  three  days 
he  reached  Puteoli,  and  there  he  was  told  of  a  rain-storm  at  sea,  which  had 
raged  during  those  three  days,  sinking  several  ships  bound  to  that  port, 
and  driving  others  to  Sicily  or  the  straits ;  so  then  he  knew  why  the  Master 
had  told  him  to  go  by  land. 

42. 

What  follows  Damis  says  he  heard  Apollonius  tell  Demetrius  and 
himself.  A  beautiful  boy  had  come  to  Rome  from  Messene  in  Arcadia,  and 
many  had  fallen  in  love  with  him,  especially  Domitian.  His  other  suitors 
were  so  ardent  that  they  did  not  hesitate  to  woo  him  in  rivalry  with  the 
emperor,  but  the  boy  was  circumspect,  and  preserved  his  chastity  from  all 
of  them.  There  was  nothing  unusual  in  his  rejecting  gold  and  trinkets 
and  horses  and  other  baits  of  that  kind,  by  which  lads  are  beguiled,  for  it 
might  be  thought  that  he  was  merely  enhancing  his  price ;  but  when  more  • 
was  bid  than  all  the  eyes  of  emperors  have  gloated  over,  and  he  still  re¬ 
fused,  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  by  the  pique  of  his  imperial  lover. 
There  he  drew  near  to  Apollonius  several  times,  looking  as  if  he  had  some¬ 
thing  to  say,  but  shame  kept  him  silent,  and  he  could  not  find  courage. 
Noticing  this  conduct,  Apollonius  said  to  him:  “You  have  been  put  in 
prison  just  like  us  hardened  criminals,  but  you  are  hardly  old  enough  to 
commit  a  crime.”  “Nay,”  said  the  lad,  “I  am  to  die,  because  our  laws  pun¬ 
ish  chastity  with  death.”  “That  was  the  case  in  Theseus’  time  too,  for  he 
slew  his  own  son  Hippolytus  for  being  chaste,”  said  Apollonius.  The  lad 
said :  “Like  him,  my  father  has  destroyed  me,  for  though  I  am  an 
Arcadian,  born  in  Messene,  he  would  not  educate  me  in  Greece,  but  sent 
me  to  Rome  to  study  law,  and  when  I  came  here  for  that  purpose  the 
emperor  looked  on  me  with  evil  eyes.”  Pretending  to  misunderstand  this 
expression,  Apollonius  asked:  “How  is  that?  Did  the  emperor  fancy  that 


212 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


your  eyes  are  blue,  when  I  see  they  are  black?  or  that  you  have  a  crooked 
nose,  though  it  is  really  as  straight  as  in  Hermes’  statues?  or  that  your 
hair  is  not  of  its  actual  color,  which  seems  sunny  to  me,  and  holds  the 
light?  Your  mouth  is  well-shaped  too,  whether  it  is  speaking  or  silent,  and 
your  head  is  well-poised  and  proud.  What  else  does  the  emperor  find  in 
all  this,  that  you  say  he  looks  on  you  with  evil  eyes  ?”  ^‘Those  very  things 
have  been  my  ruin,”  said  the  boy,  ‘‘for  he  is  smitten  with  desire  for  me, 
and  shows  no  mercy  for  the  beauties  which  he  praises,  for  he  wishes  to 
violate  me  like  the  lovers  of  women.”  Out  of  liking  for  the  lad,  Apollonius 
did  not  go  on  to  quiz  him,  for  he  saw  that  the  boy  was  blushing  and  speak¬ 
ing  with  modesty,  so  he  asked  him:  “Have  you  any  slaves  at  home  in 
Arcadia?”  “Yes  indeed,  many  of  them,”  the  boy  replied.  “What  relation 
do  you  bear  to  them?”  he  asked,  and  the  boy  said :  “Such  as  the  laws  pre¬ 
scribe,  since  I  am  their  master.”  Apollonius  then  asked :  “Which  is  right ; 
that  slaves  should  obey  their  master,  or  that  they  overrule  the  wishes  of 
the  lord  of  their  bodies?”  The  lad  saw  where  these  questions  were  leading, 
and  cried :  “I  know  how  irresistible  and  how  brutal  the  power  of  tyrants 
may  be,  and  they  wish  to  impose  their  will  upon  free  men  for  that  very 
reason;  but  I  am  lord  of  my  own  body,  and  I  will  preserve  it  inviolate.” 
“But  how  'can  you?”  asked  Apollonius,  “for  your  lover  has  the  power  to 
overcome  your  youth  with  the  sword?”  “By  offering  my  throat  to  it,  for 
a  sword  should  be  used  on  that,”  the  boy  replied.  Apollonius  commended 
his  answer  and  said :  “It  is  very  plain  to  see  that  you  are  an  Arcadian  1” 
He  tells  of  this  lad  in  a  letter,  describing  him  as  much  more  attractive 
than  I  have  done  here,  and  praising  him  to  his  correspondent  for  his  mod¬ 
esty  ;  and  he  adds  that  the  lad  was  not  put  to  death  by  the  tyrant,  but  sailed 
away  to  Malea  admired  for  his  constancy,  and  that  he  was  held  in  higher 
honor  among  the  Arcadians  than  those  are  among  the  Spartans  who  show 
most  fortitude  in  enduring  the  scourge. 


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213 


BOOK  EIGHT. 

Trial  before  Domitian  for  sorcery,  sacrilege  and  conspiracy — Ac¬ 
quitted — Vanishes  from  sight  in  court-room — His  defense,  as 

PREPARED  BUT  NOT  DELIVERED - APPEARS  TO  DemETRIUS  AND  DamIS 

AT  PUTEOLI  DIRECTLY  AFTER  HIS  TRIAL - ThEIR  REJOICINGS - SaILS  TO 

Sicily  and  Greece — Enthusiastic  welcome  at  Olympic  games — 
Visits  Labadea  and  Aulis — Stay  in  Greece — While  lecturing 
IN  Ephesus  he  sees  Domitian's  death  at  Rome — Summoned  to 
ADVISE  Emperor  Nerva,  he  declines — Sends  away  Damis — Disap¬ 
pears,  PLACE  AND  time  OF  DEATH  UNKNOWN - VARIOUS  LEGENDS — ■ 

Apparition  at  Tyana. 

1. 

Let  us  now  go  to  the  court  to  hear  the  Master  present  his  defense. 
The  sun  has  risen,  and  entrance  to  the  tribunal  is  already  open  for 
notables.  Courtiers  tell  us  that  the  emperor  has  eaten  no  breakfast,  being 
absorbed  in  thought  on  the  possible  developments  of  the  trial,  very  likely ; 
for  he  is  fingering  some  scroll,  now  angrily,  now  more  uncertainly.  He 
acts  like  one  enraged  with  the  laws,  because  they  have  invented  the  impedi¬ 
ments  of  courts. 

2. 

We  shall  find  Apollonius  there  too,  looking  more  like  one  about  to 
debate  some  abstract  proposition,  than  like  a  man  on  trial  for  his  life; 
though  we  might  have  expected  that  from  his  conduct  up  to  this  point. 
While  the  clerk  was  conducting  him  to  the  court,  he  asked  him  where 
they  were  going,  and  when  the  clerk  replied  that  he  was  taking  him  to  the 
court-room,  he  asked:  ‘‘Against  whom  am  I  to  plead?”  The  clerk 
answered :  “Against  your  accuser,  but  the  emperor  will  decide  the  case.” 
“He  may  judge  my  case,”  said  Apollonius,  “but  who  will  judge  the 
emperor,  for  I  intend  to  show  that  he  is  doing  grievous  wrong  to  philoso¬ 
phy.”  “What  does  the  emperor  care  for  philosophy,  even  if  he  does  wrong 
it  ?”  asked  the  clerk.  “But  philosophy  cares  a  great  deal  about  the  emperor, 
that  he  shall  govern  the  state  properly,”  answered  Apollonius.  The  clerk 
wished  him  success,  for  he  was  very  well-disposed  toward  him,  as  he  had 
shown  from  the  beginning  of  their  acquaintance;  and  then  he  asked: 
“How  much  water  will  you  measure  out  for  the  time  of  your  argument? 
I  must  know  that  before  the  trial  begins.”  Apollonius  replied:  “If  he  lets 
me  say  all  that  the  cause  demands,  not  even  the  Tiber  would  be  enough 


214 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


to  pour  into  the  clepsydra.  But  if  I  am  limited  to  answering  questions,  the 
length  of  my  examination  depends  on  the  questioner.”  “You  have  ac¬ 
quired  two  very  opposite  accomplishments,  since  you  are  ready  to  speak 
either  briefly  or  at  length  on  the  same  subject,”  said  the  clerk.  “They  are 
not  opposite  but  alike,”  he  replied ;  “for  any  man  capable  of  the  one  will 
not  fail  in  the  other.  To  combine  both  in  due  proportion  may  not  be  a 
third  accomplishment,  but  it  is  easily  the  first  of  oratorical  excellences ; 
and  I  know  still  a  fourth  one,  which  is  to  keep  silence  in  court.”  “That 
last  accomplishment  would  not  help  you  much,  nor  any  one  else  whose  head 
is  at  stake,”  said  the  clerk.  “And  yet  when  Socrates  the  Athenian  was  on 
trial,  it  was  very  serviceable  to  him,”  said  Apollonius.  “How  was  it  serv¬ 
iceable,”  asked  the  clerk,  “for  he  was  sentenced  to  death  because  he  kept 
silence?”  “He  did  not  die,  though  the  Athenians  thought  that  he  did,” 
Apollonius  replied. 

3. 

The  next  occurrence  showed  in  what  spirit  he  would  accept  whatever 
tyranny  might  inflict  on  him.  As  he  was  about  to  enter  the  court-room, 
another  clerk  came  up  and  said :  “Tyanean,  you  must  enter  stripped  of 
everything!”  “Are  we  going  to  take  a  bath  or  try  a  case?”  asked  Apol¬ 
lonius,  and  the  other  replied :  “The  order  does  not  relate  to  your  clothes ; 
but  the  emperor  forbids  you  to  bring  in  any  amulet,  or  scroll,  or  other 
writing  whatever.”  “Not  even  a  rod,  for  the  backs  of  those  who  have  in¬ 
duced  him  to  make  such  an  absurd  order  ?”  asked  Apollonius.  Whereupon 
his  accuser  clamored :  “O  Emperor !  this  sorcerer  threatens  to  beat  me, 
because  I  induced  you  to  make  that  order  1”  “Then  you  are  more  of  a 
sorcerer  than  I  am,”  said  Apollonius ;  “for  you  say  that  you  have  persuaded 
the  emperor  that  I  am  one,  and  I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  persuade  him 
that  I  am  not.”  While  the  accuser  was  abusing  Apollonius  in  this  fashion, 
a  freedman  of  Euphrates  was  at  his  elbow,  whom  his  patron  had  sent  to 
testify  concerning  Apollonius’  utterances  in  Ionia,  and  furnished  with 
money  to  pay  the  accuser. 

4. 

After  these  preliminary  altercations  the  trial  began.  The  court-room 
had  been  arranged  with  seats  as  if  for  a  panegyric  oration,  and  all  the 
leading  men  in  Rome  were  present,  for  the  emperor  was  very  desirous  to 
prove  Apollonius’  complicity  in  the  conspiracy  of  Nerva  and  his  associates 
before  as  large  an  audience  as  possible.  Apollonius  disregarded  the  em¬ 
peror  so  completely  that  he  did  not  even  look  at  him,  and  when  the  accuser 
assailed  him  with  vituperation  for  such  irreverence,  and  demanded  that  he 
gaze  upon  the  god  of  all  men,  Apollonius  raised  his  eyes  toward  the  ceiling, 
•  to  indicate  that  he  looked  to  Zeus,  and  that  he  considered  the  man  who  was 


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215 


willing  to  receive  such  impious  adulation  to  be  baser  than  the  flatterer  him¬ 
self.  Then  the  accuser  shouted :  “Measure  out  his  water  now,  O  Emperor ! 
If  you  let  him  speak  all  he  likes,  he  will  choke  us!  I  hold  in  my  hand  the 
scroll  in  which  the  counts  of  the  accusation  are  set  forth,  which  he  is  to 
reply  to.  Let  him  answer  them  one  by  one.” 

5. 

This  plan  met  with  the  emperor’s  approval,  and  he  directed  the  de¬ 
fendant  to  plead  in  accordance  with  the  accuser’s  method.  He  dismissed 
all  but  four  of  the  charges,  as  not  of  sufficient  importance  to  be  tried,  and 
he  ordered  the  examination  to  proceed  on  those  four  remaining  counts, 
which  he  considered  the  most  serious,  and  hardest  to  answer.  His  first 
question  was :  “Why  do  you  not  wear  the  same  garments  as  other  men 
do,  instead  of  your  very  peculiar  and  conspicuous  costume?”  Apollonius 
answered :  “Because  the  same  earth  which  feeds  me,  clothes  me  too,  and 
I  do  not  wish  to  add  to  the  woes  of  animals.”  Next  he  asked:  “Why  do 
men  call  you  a  god  ?”  The  answer  was :  “Every  man  believed  to  be  good 
is  honored  with  the  title  of  god.”  I  have  shown  in  the  chapters  on  India 
where  he  got  that  idea.  The  third  question  related  to  the  plague  at 
Ephesus.  “By  what  inspiration  or  calculation  did  you  foretell  the  plague 
to  the  Ephesians?”  He  answered:  “I  was  the  first  to  feel  a  premonition 
of  the  impending  calamity,  because  my  diet  was  lighter  than  that  of  others ; 
but  if  you  wish,  I  will  go  on  to  tell  the  reasons  why  plagues  occur.”  The 
emperor  feared  that  he  would  attribute  such  visitations  to  his  own  tyranny, 
and  incestuous  marriage,  and  all  his  other  infamous  actions,  so  he  said : 
“I  am  not  asking  for  your  opinion  on  that  subject.”  Having  now  come  to 
the  fourth  question,  which  concerned  Nerva  and  his  associates,  he  did  not 
burst  out  with  it  at  once,  but  only  after  long  hesitation  and  deep  thought ; 
and  when  he  did  ask  it,  his  mind  seemed  dazed.  His  manner  of  asking  it, 
too,  was  contrary  to  the  general  expectation,  for  everyone  supposed  that 
he  would  finally  drop  all  finesse,  and  would  not  only  call  those  men  by 
name,  but  would  yell  savagely  about  the  alleged  sacrifice.  Far  from  that, 
he  fairly  crawled  into  the  subject,  saying:  “Tell  me,  why  did  you  sacrifice 
that  boy,  when  you  went  out  of  the  house  into  the  fields  that  day  ?”  Apol¬ 
lonius  answered  as  if  reproving  a  schoolboy:  “Don’t  ask  such  questions! 
If  I  went  out  of  a  house,  of  course  I  went  into  the  fields ;  and  if  I  did  that, 
I  sacrificed  a  boy ;  and  if  I  sacrificed  him,  I  ate  him !  Let  witnesses  worthy 
of  belief  prove  all  that !”  At  that  answer  a  louder  shout  of  applause  went 
up  than  befitted  the  imperial  court-room,  and  the  emperor,  convinced  that 
the  audience  sided  with  the  defendant,  and  being  himself  much  impressed 
by  his  ready  and  skilful  replies,  said:  “I  acquit  you  of  these  charges;  but 
you  must  remain  until  I  can  confer  with  you  privately.”  Bracing  himself. 


216 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Apollonius  said :  “I  thank  you,  emperor.  These  scoundrelly  accusers  have 
caused  whole  cities  to  be  destroyed,  islands  to  be  crowded  with  exiles,  the 
mainland  to  be  filled  with  mourning,  the  army  with  cowardice,  and  the 
senate  with  suspicion.  Let  me  go,  then ;  or  if  not,  send  some  one  to  arrest 
my  body,  for  my  soul  cannot  be  kept  in  captivity.  Nay,  you  will  not  keep 
my  body  either: 

“  ‘For  you  do  not  slay  me,  since  I  am  fated  not  to  die !’  ” 

With  these  words  he  vanished  from  sight  before  the  whole  court¬ 
room;  believing  it  to  be  his  best  course  under  the  circumstances,  be¬ 
cause  the  emperor  evidently  intended  to  ask  him  questions  not  merely  about 
his  case,  but  about  all  the  surrounding  circumstances,  for  he  thought 
himself  very  magnanimous  in  not  having  sentenced  him  to  death;  and 
Apollonius  foresaw  that  he  might  not  handle  him  so  easily  another  time. 
He  also  thought  it  desirable  not  to  conceal  his  pdwets  any  longer,  but  that 
it  should  be  known  that  he  was  master  of  his  own  fate,  and  could  not  be 
held  against  his  will.  Moreover  his  anxiety  for  Nerva  and  his  friends  was 
now  relieved,  for  since  the  tyrant  had  not  dared  to  question  him  about  them, 
what  plausible  pretext  could  he  find  for  executing  them  on  charges  which 
he  had  failed  to  establish  in  court? 

I  have  found  this  account  in  the  court  record  of  the  proceedings. 

6. 

He  had  written  out  a  defense,  which  he  had  intended  to  read  by  the 
clepsydra,  if  occasion  demanded,  but  the  tyrant  changed  that  plan  by 
requiring  him  to  answer  the  questions  separately,  as  I  have  related,  and  I 
cannot  resist  quoting  the  entire  address  here.  I  am  well  aware  that  it  will 
be  criticized  by  admirers  of  conventional  oratory,  as  being  less  polished 
than  they  consider  in  good  taste,  and  too  vainglorious  in  language  and 
in  sentiment.  But  when  I  carefully  weigh  the  man’s  quality,  I  think  he 
would  not  have  acted  like  the  wise  man  he  was  if  he  had  attempted  to 
express  his  character  by  stringing  together  evenly-balanced  antitheses,  and 
imitating  with  his  throat  the  rhythm  of  castanets.  Such  tricks  are  the 
stock-in-trade  of  professional  rhetoricians,  and  are  not  always  advisable 
even  for  them.  In  -court  trials,  if  the  oratorical  effort  is  too  apparent,  it 
may  convey  the  injurious  impression  that  the  speaker  is  playing  upon  the 
sympathies  of  the  judges;  when  if  it  were  successfully  disguised  it  might 
win.  The  truer  eloquence  consists  in  concealing  from  the  hearers  that  it 
is  eloquent.  A  wise  man  conducting  his  own  defense  (and  no  wise  man 
will  prosecute  in  court  what  he  can  censure  outside)  needs  a  different 
style  from  the  professional  advocate,  and  should  ^deliver  an  address  which 
has  been  carefully  prepared,  but  does  not  seem  so.  It  should  be  serious, 
almost  haughty,  and  without  making  any  appeal  to  pity;  for  how  should 


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217 


anyone  be  suspected  of  trying  to  produce  sympathy  who  does  not  ask  for 
it?  Such  an  oration  will  this  defense  by  Apollonius  seem,  to  those  who 
listen  attentively  to  that  renowned  man,  and  to  me.  It  was  composed  by 
him  thus: 

7. 

“O  Emperor,  this  case  involves  great  issues  for  both  of  us.  You  are  in 
such  peril  as  never  any  emperor  was  before,  if  you  suppose  that  you  can 
persecute  philosophy  without  suffering  for  it,  and  I  am  in  greater  peril 
than  was  even  Socrates  at  Athens;  whose  accusers  charged  him  with 
being  an  innovator  in  theology,  but  they  did  not  call  him  a  god,  nor  think 
him  one.  Since  such  great  danger  threatens  each  of  us,  I  will  not  hesitate 
to  offer  you  the  same  advice  which  I  have  adopted  for  myself.  Ever  since 
this  accuser  has  brought  us  into  opposition  a  mistaken  opinion  concerning 
you  as  well  as  myself  has  been  generally  entertained.  It  has  been  thought 
that  you  will  be  so  influenced  by  your  animosities,  in  judging  this  case, 
that  you  will  put  me  to  death,  whatever  death  may  be;  and  on  the  other 
hand,  that  I  would  avoid  being  brought  to  trial,  by  using  some  of  the  ex^ 
pedients  open  to  a  fugitive ;  and  they  are  innumerable,  O  Emperor ! 
Though  I  heard  these  rumors,  they  have  not  induced  me  to  think  so  badly 
of  you,  nor  to  object  to  your  trying  the  case  because  you  would  not  decide 
it  fairly.  I  have  come  to  make  my  defense  in  obedience  to  the  laws,  and  I 
recommend  to  you  a  similar  obedience.  The  law  forbids  you  to  condemn 
without  hearing  both  sides,  or  to  sit  as  my  judge  with  the  preconceived 
opinion  that  I  have  been  guilty  of  some  crime  against  you,  or  to  imagine 
that  a  naked  philosopher  is  challenging  the  Roman  emperor  in  arms,  when 
you  would  laugh  if  you  were  told  that  your  throne  was  threatened  by  some 
king  of  Babylon  or  of  Armenia,  or  by  any  other  of  such  rulers,  who  have, 
as  I  have  seen,  countless  horsemen  and  archers,  gold-mines  and  hordes  of 
men.  Nor  is  it  right  for  you  to  accept  unquestioningly,  on  the  word  of  an 
Egyptian  backbiter,  statements  which  you  have  never  heard  from  Athene, 
whom  you  declare  to  be  your  special  protector ;  unless  by  Zeus,  their  flat¬ 
tery  and  lying  has  already  served  these  scoundrels  so  well,  as  to  persuade 
you  that  the  gods  may  be  suitable  advisers  for  you  in  trifling  matters  like 
sore  eyes,  or  fevers,  or  colic,  which  they  cure  as  doctors  do  by  laying 
hands  on  the  afflicted  part;  but  that  when  your  throne  and  your  life  are 
at  stake,  they  are  not  the  ones  to  consult,  for  guarding  you  against  your 
foes,  or  instructing  you  what  weapons  to  employ.  So  as  your  substitutes 
for  the  aegis  of  Minerva,  and  the  thunderbolts  of  Jove,  you  take  informers, 
who  tell  you  they  know  more  about  your  affairs  than  the  gods  do,  and  that 
they  wake  and  sleep  for  you,  if  indeed  they  find  time  to  sleep  at  all,  and 


218 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


who  pile  up  one  imaginary  danger  on  another,  composing  for  your  ear 
constant  Iliads  of  woe. 

To  keep  race-horses ;  to  be  drawn  in  state  through  the  forum  by 
teams  of  white  mules ;  to  dine  in  luxury  off  gold  and  silver  plate ;  to  take 
their  pleasure  in  women  and  boys  bought  for  twenty  or  thirty  thousand 
drachmas  apiece ;  to  commit  adultery  too,  so  long  as  they  are  not  caught 
at  it,  and  to  marry  the  wives  whom  they  have  debauched,  if  they  are  caught 
at  it;  and  then  to  be  applauded  for  their  glorious  triumphs,  when  the  life 
of  some  innocent  philosopher  or  consular  has  been  sworn  away  by  them, 
and  taken  by  you ;  let  such  wages  be  given  to  these  villains  for  their  greed 
and  shamelessness  by  which  they  show  their  contempt  for  law  and  for 
public  opinion.  But  when  they  boast  of  superhuman  powers,  and  claim 
to  know  more  than  the  gods  themselves,  I  do  not  acclaim  them,  but  shudder 
to  hear  them.  If  you  should  agree  with  me  in  that  opinion,  they  will  prob¬ 
ably  make  the  same  charge  of  unsoundness  in  theology  against  you,  which 
they  have  made  against  me ;  for  that  will  be  their  last  resort  when  there  is 
no  one  else  to  inform  against.  I  may  seem  to  be  attacking  them  rather 
than  defending  myself,  but  let  me  say  this  much  in  championship  of  the 
laws,  for  if  you  do  not  treat  the  laws  as  supreme,  your  own  supremacy  will 
not  endure. 

^Whom  shall  I  invoke  as  my  sponsor  in  this  cause?  If  I  call  upon 
Zeus,  under  whose  favor  I  know  my  life  is  passed,  these  men  will  say  that 
I  am  weaving  spells  to  bring  him  down  from  heaven  to  earth.  So  I  will 
make  my  defense  with  the  aid  of  a  man  whom  the  multitude  call  dead,  but 
I  deny  it.  He  is  your  father,  who  honored  me  as  you  honor  him,  for  I 
made  him  emperor,  as  he  made  you.  Let  him  stand  beside  me  as  the 
sponsor  for  my  defense,  O  Emperor,  for  he  knows  my  character  much 
better  than  you  do.  Before  he  reached  the  throne  he  came  to  Egypt,  to 
sacrifice  to  the  gods  of  that  land,  and  to  consult  with  me  about  obtaining 
the  empire.  He  found  me  with  my  hair  long,  and  dressed  as  I  am  now, 
but  he  found  no  fault  with  my  appearance,  thinking  that  everything  about 
me  was  right  enough.  Instead  of  that,  he  told  me  that  he  had  come  all  that 
distance  because  I  was  there ;  and  he  thanked  me  when  he  went  away,  after 
confiding  to  me  what  he  would  have  told  to  no  one  else,  and  after  listening 
to  words  from  me  which  no  other  would  have  dared  to  say.  His  intention 
to  claim  the  throne  was  confirmed  by  me,  after  it  had  been  shaken  by  other 
advisers,  who  really  meant  well,  though  you  would  hardly  think  so,  for  if 
they  had  dissuaded  him  from  ascending  the  throne,  they  would  have  de¬ 
prived  you  of  your  succession  which  you  now  enjoy.  It  was  due  to  my 
advice  that  he  did  not  reject  the  supreme  power  which  knocked  at  his  door 
unsought,  and  that  he  has  enabled  you  to  inherit  it.  Acknowledging  that 
he  approved  my  opinion,  he  exalted  himself  by  it  and  has  exalted  you. 


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219 


If  he  thought  me  a  sorcerer,  he  would  never  have  chosen  me  to  share 
his  anxieties.  When  he  came  to  me  he  did  not  say,  ‘Constrain  the 
Fates  and  Zeus  to  bestow  the  empire  on  me,  and  make  them  show  portents 
on  my  behalf,  such  as  making  the  Sun  rise  in  the  west,  and  set  where  he 
usually  rises  !’  I  would  not  have  thought  him  fit  to  reign,  if  he  had  believed 
me  capable  of  such  witchcraft,  or  if  he  had  sought  empire  by  magic,  when 
it  should  be  attained  by  valor.  I  discoursed  publicly  in  the  temples,  whereas 
the  sorcerer  tribe  always  shun  those  holy  abodes  of  the  gods,  which  are 
inimical  to  them  in  the  exercise  of  their  arts ;  and  they  shroud  their  pro¬ 
ceedings  in  night  and  thick  darkness,  so  that  their  dupes  may  use  neither 
eyes  nor  ears.  Your  father  also  debated  with  me  privately  in  the  presence 
of  Euphrates  and  Dion,  one  of  whom  was  my  worst  enemy,  and  the  other 
my  closest  friend,  for  I  shall  never  cease  to  list  Dion  among  my  friends. 
Who  would  have  dared  to  suggest  magic  at  such  a  time  to  those  men,  who 
if  they  were  not  wise,  at  least  professed  to  be?  Who  would  not  shun  the 
suspicion  of  forbidden  practices,  in  a  mixed  company  of  friends  and  foes  ? 
The  fact  is  that  our  deliberations  were  quite  inconsistent  with  sorcery. 
Can  you  imagine  that  because  your  father  was  ambitious  to  rule  he  trusted 
more  to  magic  than  to  his  own  efforts,  and  that  he  used  my  agency  to 
bring  pressure  to  bear  on  the  gods,  so  that  he  might  attain  his  ends? 
Instead  of  that  he  was  convinced  that  power  was  within  his  grasp  before  he 
came  to  Egypt,  and  after  he  arrived  there  he  had  deeper  subjects  to  discuss 
with  me,  for  he  sought  to  learn  from  me  concerning  legislation,  and  the 
rights  of  property,  and  how  the  gods  should  be  worshipped,  and  what 
blessings  might  reasonably  be  hoped  from  them  by  law-abiding  rulers. 
Sorcerers  are  bitterly  opposed  to  all  such  speculations,  for  where  such  ideas 
prevail  their  art  is  done  for. 

This  point  too  should  be  considered,  O  Emperor,  that  all  arts  and 
sciences  existing  among  men,  while  they  have  different  activities,  agree  in 
this,  that  they  are  universally  carried  on  to  make  money ;  some  little,  some 
much,  some  merely  a  livelihood ;  and  this  is  true  not  only  of  the  mechanical 
trades,  but  of  the  learned  and  quasi-learned  professions.  True  philosophy 
is  the  only  exception  to  this  rule.  Among  learned  professions  I  would  class 
poetry,  music,  astronomy,  higher  education,  and  oratory  other  than 
forensic;  and  I  would  class  as  quasi-learned  professions  painting,  model¬ 
ling,  sculpture,  steersmanship,  and  agriculture  if  it  studies  the  seasons ; 
none  of  which  arts  fall  far  short  of  learning.  But  besides  these,  O  Em¬ 
peror,  there  is  the  pseudo-learned  science  of  sorcery;  which  must  not  be 
mistaken  for  the  science  of  divination,  for  this,  if  it  is  genuine,  should  be 
highly  honored,  although  I  am  not  sure  that  it  is  a  science.  I  maintain  that 
sorcerers  practice  a  sham  science,  because  making  people  believe  that  they 
see  things  which  are  not  there,  and  that  they  do  not  see  things  which  are 


220 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


before  their  eyes,  depends  entirely  on  the  imagination  of  those  whom  they 
impose  upon.  The  entire  success  of  that  art  is  based  upon  the  folly  of  its 
dupes  and  of  the  lookers-on ;  but  it  is  an  art,  because  all  its  practitioners 
are  greedy  of  gain.  Every  conjuring  trick  which  they  exhibit  has  been 
invented  to  get  money ;  and  they  try  to  extort  unheard-of  sums  by  getting 
eager  seekers  into  their  clutches  through  their  professions  of  omnipotence. 
But  what  wealth  of  mine  have  you  discovered,  O  Emperor,  that  you  should 
suspect  me  of  practicing  that  pseudo-science,  especially  since  your  father 
believed  me  to  be  superior  to  all  mercenary  motives?  As  proof  of  that, 
here  is  a  letter  to  me  from  that  great  and  godlike  man,  in  which,  among 
other  things,  he  commends  me  for  my  poverty : 

‘‘‘The  emperor  Vespasian  to  the  philosopher  Apollonius,  greeting: 

“If  all  were  willing  to  practice  philosophy  as  you  do,  Apollonius,  it 
would  be  a  very  fortunate  thing  both  for  philosophy  and  for  poverty: 
because  philosophy  would  become  disinterested,  and  poverty  would  become 
popular.  Farewell.’ 

“Imagine  that  your  father  is  here,  testifying  thus  in  my  behalf,  attrib¬ 
uting  to  me  disinterested  philosophy,  and  voluntary  poverty.  He  was  no 
doubt  recalling  what  happened  in  Egypt,  when  Euphrates  and  several  other 
sham  philosophers  openly  beset  him,  begging  for  money,  while  I  not  only 
did  not  ask  for  any,  but  I  rebuffed  them  for  their  unprofessional  conduct. 
I  began  to  despise  wealth  in  my  boyhood,  and  on  the  day  after  I  obtained 
my  patrimony,  which  was  by  no  means  small,  I  gave  it  all  away  to  my 
brother  and  friends  and  needy  relatives,  to  inure  myself  to  privation  from 
the  start.  I  will  say  nothing  of  Babylon,  or  of  India  across  the  Caucasus 
and  the  Hyphasis  river,  except  to  say  that  my  conduct  in  those  lands  was 
consistent  with  my  principles ;  but  that  I  have  never  been  mercenary  in  this 
part  of  the  world  I  am  willing  to  leave  to  the  evidence  of  this  Egyptian 
informer.  Though  he  says  that  I  planned  and  executed  atrocious  crimes, 
he  makes  it  plain  that  I  have  not  enriched  myself  by  such  means,  and 
that  I  never  accepted  pay  for  them ;  and,  in  fact,  he  thinks  me  such  a  fool 
as  to  be  a  sorcerer  who  commits  that  crime  gratis  which  others  sell  at  a 
high  price.  I  must  have  offered  some  such  bargain  as  this :  ‘Come  all  ye 
fools !  I  am  a  magician,  not  for  pay,  but  for  nothing !  Each  of  you  shall 
get  everything  he  wants,  while  I  assume  the  risk  and  the  lawsuits !’ 

“Not  to  drift  into  aimless  discussion  in  this  way,  I  will  ask  the  prose¬ 
cutor  which  point  in  the  complaint  against  me  he  wishes  to  take  up  first. 
That  question  is  unnecessary,  however,  because  at  the  outset  of  his  speech 
he  has  enlarged  upon  the  way  I  dress,  and  actually  discussed  what  food  I 
eat,  and  what  I  do  not  eat.  Defend  this  part  of  my  case  yourself,  divine 
Pythagoras,  for  this  attack  is  aimed  at  both  of  us ;  at  you  because  you  began 
that  mode  of  life,  and  at  me  because  I  have  followed  your  example.  O  Em- 


BOOK  EIGHT 


221 


peror,  the  earth  supplies  all  the  wants  of  men,  and  so  long  as  they  consent 
to  maintain  a  truce  with  animals  they  lack  nothing.  Some  things  they 
gather  wild  from  her,  and  other  things  they  obtain  by  cultivation,  for  she 
feeds  her  children  according  to  the  season ;  but  deaf  to  her  invitation  they 
sharpen  a  knife  against  the  animals,  to  get  food  and  clothing.  The  Indian 
Brahmins  did  not  countenance  this  cruelty,  and  they  taught  the  Gymnoso- 
phists  of  Egypt  to  abstain  from  it.  Pythagoras  was  the  first  Greek  to 
sojourn  in  Egypt,  where  he  learned  this  doctrine  from  the  Sages  there. 
Thenceforth  he  left  animals  in  their  natural  state,  to  be  cared  for  by  the 
earth,  and  he  fed  himself  on  her  plants,  declaring  that  such  products, 
being  untainted,  are  suitable  nourishment  for  body  and  mind.  Moreover 
he  maintained  that  the  clothing  commonly  worn  is  unclean,  because  it  is 
obtained  from  mortal  creatures,  and  therefore  he  wore  linen,  and  he  wove 
himself  sandals  of  bark  for  the  same  reason.  Among  other  advantages 
which  he  gained  from  this  purity,  the  greatest  was  that  he  learned  to 
know  his  own  soul.  He  became  conscious  that  he  had  been  born  before, 
as  one  of  the  sons  of  Panthus,  in  the  days  when  Troy  was  besieged  because 
of  Helen,  and  that  he  had  been  thought  the  most  beautiful  and  promising 
of  them  all,  and  that  he  had  died  so  young  as  to  give  even  Homer  cause 
for  grieving  over  it;  and  that  thereafter  he  had  passed  through  several 
existences,  according  to  the  law  of  Nemesis,  which  governs  transmigra¬ 
tions  of  the  soul,  until  he  finally  returned  to  human  shape,  and  was  born 
as  the  son  of  Mnesarchides  of  Samos,  changing  from  a  barbarian  into  a 
civilized  man,  and  from  a  Trojan  into  an  Ionian;  but  yet  so  unaffected  by 
death  that  he  did  not  forget  that  he  had  been  Euphorbus.  I  have  already 
said  that  he  was  the  father  of  my  philosophy,  and  that  I  have  adopted  this 
mode  of  life,  not  on  my  own  initiative,  but  as  his  heir.  I  do  not  criticize 
the  gluttons  who  take  delight  in  eating  flamingos  and  pheasants  and  pea¬ 
cocks,  which  they  fatten  for  their  banquets;  I  have  filed  no  complaint 
against  men  who  pay  more  for  a  fish  than  nobles  used  to  give  for  a  blooded 
horse ;  I  have  coveted  no  one’s  purples,  or  soft  Pamphylian  robes ;  and  yet, 
O  ye  gods,  I  am  prosecuted  as  a  criminal  for  eating  asphodel  salad,  and 
dried  fruits,  and  food  which  tempts  me  by  its  simplicity ! 

‘‘Not  even  my  clothing  has  been  spared,  for  my  accuser  has  stripped  it 
off  me,  because  it  might  serve  some  purpose  of  a  sorcerer  !  For  that  matter, 
if  any  one  answers  me  that  there  is  no  difference  between  animate  and 
inanimate  things,  which  would  make  a  man  pure  or  impure,  why  is  linen 
better  than  wool?  Wool  is  clipped  from  the  gentlest  of  animals,  which  the 
gods  love  best  of  all,  and  have  not  disdained  to  shepherd  them,  and  by 
Zeus !  the  gods  or  else  the  fabulists  once  even  honored  them  with  a  golden- 
fleeced  variety ;  while  on  the  other  hand  flax  is  sown  wherever  chance  wills, 
and  there  is  no  fable  about  gold  in  connection  with  it.  Nevertheless,  linen 


222 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


seems  uncontaminated  to  the  Indians  and  the  Egyptians,  because  it  is  not 
derived  from  a  living  creature,  and  so  it  furnishes  Pythagoras  and  me  with 
raiment  suitable  for  discoursing,  and  for  prayer,  and  for  sacrificing.  It  is 
also  a  pure  coverlet  to  sleep  under,  so  that  the  dreams  of  those  who  live 
as  I  do  make  their  predictions  come  truer. 

“I  am  next  required  to  speak  in  defense  of  the  hair  which  I  used  to 
have,  against  the  charge  that  it  was  somewhat  sunburnt.  This  Egyptian’s 
opinion  should  not  be  taken  on  a  question  of  such  refinement.  Submit  it 
to  golden-haired  and  well-combed  youths,  who  are  the  delight  of  lovers  and 
sweethearts  with  whom  they  revel.  Let  them,  and  those  who  admire  such 
hair  and  the  ointments  dripping  from  it,  declare  that  they  are  in  the  height 
of  style  and  that  I  am  altogether  unlovely,  and  no  lover  of  love.  To  such 
judges  I  will  reply:  ‘You  poor  things,  do  not  call  this  Dorian  fashion  a 
crime !  The  practice  of  wearing  long  hair  comes  to  us  from  the  Spartans, 
and  was  universal  among  them  at  the  time  of  their  greatest  glory.  Their 
king  Leonidas  wore  his  so,  because  it  looked  manly,  so  that  he  might  ap¬ 
pear  majestic  to  his  friends  and  terrible  to  his  foes;  and  Sparta  prides  her¬ 
self  as  much  on  Leonidas  as  she  does  on  Lycurgus  or  on  Iphitus.  Steel 
should  spare  the  locks  of  a  philosopher,  and  not  be  applied  to  the  region 
where  are  all  the  organs  of  sensation,  and  divine  perceptions,  and  whence 
are  uttered  prayers,  and  speech  the  interpreter  of  wisdom.  Empedocles 
used  to  strut  through  the  streets  of  Greece  composing  hymns,  with  the 
purplest  of  fillets  bound  about  his  hair,  in  the  hope  that  he  would  grow 
from  a  man  into  a  god;  but  when  I  let  my  hair  go  neglected,  and  had  no 
occasion  for  any  such  hymns  about  it,  I  am  arrested  for  doing  so,  and 
put  upon  my  trial.  What  did  Empedocles  sing  about?  Was  it  to  celebrate 
his  own  praises,  or  the  happy  condition  of  the  men  of  his  time  who  were 
never  arrested  on  such  a  charge? 

“That  is  all  I  have  to  say  about  my  hair,  which  has  already  been 
sheared  close.  Malignity  did  not  wait  for  this  accusation,  which  has  im¬ 
posed  on  me  the  necessity  of  defending  myself  from  another  charge,  a 
frightful  one,  and  it  may  well  horrify  not  you  alone,  O  Emperor,  but  Zeus 
himself.  That  charge  is,  that  men  suppose  me  to  be  a  god,  and  that  dupes 
blinded  by  my  magic  openly  proclaim  me  one.  Before  making  such  an 
indictment  the  accuser  should  have  specified  by  what  arguments,  or  miracu¬ 
lous  words,  or  deeds,  I  have  induced  any  one  to  worship  me.  I  have  never 
intimated  to  any  Greek  from  what  body  my  soul  has  migrated,  nor  into 
what  shape  it  will  migrate,  although  I  know ;  nor  have  I  ever  circulated  any 
such  ideas  about  myself  as  he  charges  me  with ;  nor  have  I  ever  uttered 
oracles,  or  lyric  responses,  like  so  many  enthusiasts ;  nor  do  I  know  of  any 
city  whose  townsmen  have  voted  to  assemble  and  offer  sacrifices  to  Apol¬ 
lonius,  although  I  have  been  highly  honored  in  every  city  which  has  sought 


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223 


my  aid  in  any  difficulty.  Their  requests  to  me  have  only  been  that  their 
sick  might  be  cured ;  or  that  a  way  more  pleasing  to  the  gods  be  suggested 
for  terminating  their  ceremonies,  or  for  offering  their  sacrifices ;  or  that 
rioting  might  be  suppressed,  and  respect  for  law  might  be  increased,  and 
things  like  that.  The  only  reward  I  ever  asked  for  such  service  was  that 
they  should  become  better  men  than  they  had  been,  and  in  doing  so  I  was 
helping  you.  Just  as  herdsmen  benefit  the  owners  of  the  cattle  by  keeping 
them  from  straying,  and  shepherds  fatten  the  flocks  for  the  profit  of  the 
farmer,  and  bee-keepers  ward  off  diseases  from  the  hives  that  their  masters 
may  not  lose  the  swarm,  in  the  same  way  I  improved  your  cities  by  check¬ 
ing  their  deterioration.  Even  if  they  had  believed  me  to  be  a  god  the  mis¬ 
take  would  have  been  to  your  advantage,  so  long  as  they  were  willing  to 
listen  to  me,  if  no  other  reason  than  the  fear  of  disobeying  a  god.  As  mat¬ 
ter  of  fact,  they  did  not  believe  any  such  thing,  but  they  did  believe  that 
man  has  some  kinship  with  God,  through  which  he  alone  of  all  living  things 
can  know  the  gods,  and  can  study  his  own  nature,  and  his  relationship  to 
God.  Man  even  likens  the  appearance  of  God  to  his  own,  as  his  sculpture 
and  painting  show,  and  he  is  conscious  that  his  virtues  come  to  him  from 
God,  and  that  all  who  partake  of  them  are  godlike  and  divine. 

“The  first  to  apply  to  men  the  epithets  of  ‘righteous,’  ‘Olympian,’  and 
the  like  attributes  of  deity  more  freely  than  accords  with  the  human  frailty 
of  their  recipients,  were  the  Athenians;  but  the  Delphic  Apollo,  and  not 
they,  should  be  called  the  originator  of  this  practice.  When  Lycurgus  of 
Sparta  entered  his  temple  soon  after  formulating  the  code  of  laws  by  which 
Sparta  was  established,  Apollo’s  salutation  to  him  began  by  expressing 
doubt  of  his  quality,  saying  that  he  was  not  sure  whether  to  call  him  god 
or  man ;  but  becoming  more  definite  as  it  went  on,  the  oracle  ended  by 
hailing  him  as  a  god,  because  he  was  a  good  man.  But  Lycurgus  incurred 
no  prosecution,  or  risk  of  it,  from  the  Spartans  on  the  charge  that  he 
claimed  to  be  a  god,  because  he  had  not  contradicted  Apollo  when  he  called 
him  one.  On  the  contrary,  they  vied  with  the  oracle,  which  had  only  con¬ 
firmed  their  previous  opinion. 

“As  to  India  and  Egypt,  the  Egyptians  among  other  slanders  misrepre¬ 
sent  the  Indians’  ideas  of  the  right  mode  of  living,  but  they  agree  so  com¬ 
pletely  with  their  doctrines  concerning  the  creator  of  the  universe  that  they 
teach  it  to  foreigners,  while  giving  India  credit  for  it.  This  doctrine  of  the 
origin  of  the  universe,  and  of  matter,  recognizes  God  as  the  creator,  and 
that  the  basis  of  his  plan  of  creation  is  that  he  is  goodness.  Creation  and 
goodness  being  so  bound  up  together,  I  am  convinced  and  maintain  that  all 
good  men  have  in  them  something  of  the  divine  essence.  The  world  which 
is  dependent  on  God  the  creator  may  be  defined  as  everything  in  sky  and  sea 
and  land,  and  each  man  has  an  equal  share  of  it,  except  of  luck.  There  is 


224 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


also  a  world,  proportioned  to  his  wisdom,  which  is  dependent  on  each  good 
man,  and  you  yourself,  O  Emperor,  will  admit  that  its  maintenance  re¬ 
quires  a  godlike  man.  What  then  is  the  nature  of  this  world?  Undisci¬ 
plined  minds  always  choose  the  most  unreasonable  course.  To  them  respect 
for  the  laws  is  antiquated,  self-restraint  is  non-existent,  worship  of  the 
gods  is  absurd,  and  they  love  gossip  and  luxury,  which  beget  indolence, 
a  ruinous  adviser  in  every  undertaking.  Giddy  minds  are  impelled  in 
many  directions,  and  nothing  can  correct  their  instability,  not  even  man- 
dragora,  or  any  other  soporific  drug.^  To  manage  a  world  made  up  of 
such  dispositions  requires  a  man  who  has  become  a  god  in  wisdom.  Only 
such  a  man  is  equal  to  the  task  of  winning  such  minds  from  their  propensi¬ 
ties,  which  are  made  more  inveterate  by  the  example  of  their  fellows,  and 
to  wean  them  moreover  from  love  of  money,  for  which  they  thirst  until 
they  can  hold  their  mouths  open  under  the  spout  of  riches.  Such  a  man 
might  even  succeed  in  restraining  them  from  bloodshed,  though  neither 
I  nor  the  Creator  of  all  can  take  away  their  inclination  to  it. 

“Let  the  charge  be  made  against  me  too  about  Ephesus,  O  Emperor, 
that  it  was  saved,  and  let  this  Egyptian  himself  suggest  a  punishment 
which  will  fit  the  crime.  What  he  complains  of  under  that  head  is  sub¬ 
stantially  this,  that  among  the  Scythians  or  Celts  who  dwell  along  the 
Danube  or  the  Rhine  a  city  has  been  built  in  no  way  inferior  to  the  city 
of  Ephesus  in  Ionia,  and  that  this  stronghold  of  barbarians  who  are  not 
subject  to  your  rule  was  about  to  be  depopulated  by  a  plague,  and  Apol¬ 
lonius  saved  it. 

“To  a  philosopher  it  would  be  a  sufficient  defense  for  my  doing  so, 
that  an  emperor  would  rather  subdue  his  enemies  by  the  sword  than  by 
disease.  May  no  city  be  allowed  to  perish  so  by  your  neglect,  O  Emperor, 
or  by  mine ;  and  may  I  never  see  again  how  the  plague  fills  the  temples 
with  its  victims !  But  even  if  it  should  be  admitted  that  barbarians  are  to 
look  after  themselves,  and  that  we  should  make  no  effort  to  cure  them 
because  they  are  our  natural  enemies,  and  are  bound  by  no  treaty  to  our 
people ;  even  then  who  will  say  that  Ephesus  should  not  have  been  saved, 
a  city  which  derives  its  origin  from  the  purest  Attic  sources,  and  which 
has  outstripped  all  the  cities  of  Ionia  and  Lydia,  extending  over  the  inter¬ 
vening  land  until  it  has  reached  the  sea,  and  filled  with  the  genius  of 
philosophers  and  rhetoricians,  through  whom  that  wisdom-loving  city 
has  grown  strong,  not  in  hordes  of  horsemen  but  in  tens  of  thousands  of 
population?  What  philosopher  could  possibly  refuse  to  aid  such  a  city, 
knowing  as  he  must  do  that  Democritus  once  relieved  the  people  of  Abdera 
from  plague ;  recalling  how  Sophocles  the  Athenian  is  said  to  have  laid  the 
winds  when  they  blew  too  long ;  and  having  heard  that  Empedocles  averted 
a  cloud-burst  from  the  Agrigentines  by  scattering  it? 


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225 


“But  the  accuser  interrupts  me  here,  as  you  perceive,  O  Emperor,  by 
saying  that  he  does  not  complain  of  me  for  saving  the  Ephesians,  but  for 
having  foretold  that  the  plague  was  about  to  attack  them ;  for  that  he  says 
transcended  human  knowledge,  and  must  have  been  miraculous,  and  I  could 
never  have  obtained  such  exact  information  of  the  future  except  by  the 
forbidden  art  of  magic.  What  would  Socrates  have  said  to  such  a  charge, 
if  it  had  been  brought  against  those  predictions  which  he  ascribed  to  his 
guardian  genius?  What  would  Thales  say  for  himself,  or  Anaxagoras, 
lonians  both  of  them,  one  of  whom  used  often  to  foretell  how  the  olive 
crops  would  turn  out,  and  the  other  predicted  changes  of  weather  ?  Would 
they  admit  that  they  had  need  of  magic  art  for  their  prophecies?  They  had 
to  face  other  charges,  but  not  a  word  was  said  in  any  part  of  their  indict¬ 
ments  that  they  were  wizards  because  they  could  forecast  what  would 
happen.  Such  an  accusation  would  have  been  laughed  at,  and  no  one 
would  believe  it  of  philosophers,  even  in  Thessaly,  where  they  suspect  old 
women  of  bringing  the  moon  down  out  of  the  sky, 

“How  then  did  I  anticipate  the  calamity  which  hung  over  Ephesus  ?  You 
have  heard  the  accuser  himself  say  that  I  do  not  use  the  same  food  as  other 
men  do,  and  in  beginning  my  defense  I  said  that  I  use  a  lighter  diet  be¬ 
cause  I  like  it  better  than  the  food  which  pleases  others.  This  mode  of  life 
keeps  my  senses  indescribably  acute,  O  Emperor,  and  leaves  nothing 
opaque  to  them,  so  that  it  makes  whatever  is  occurring,  or  is  about  to 
occur,  as  perceptible  as  if  reflected  in  a  mirror.  A  wise  man  will  not  wait 
until  the  ground  sends  forth  its  miasma  to  infect  the  air,  when  the  plague 
begins  to  flow,  but  he  will  anticipate  its  coming,  not  so  soon  as  the  gods 
do,  but  far  sooner  than  the  generality  of  men.  Gods  see  the  distant  future, 
most  men  see  the  present,  but  Sages  see  what  is  drawing  near.  Ask  me  in 
private  what  are  the  causes  of  plague,  O  Emperor,  for  the  knowledge  is 
too  abstruse  to  be  divulged  to  the  crowd.  You  may  ask  whether  this  mode 
of  life  of  mine  is  in  itself  sufficient  to  lend  penetration  to  the  senses,  and 
to  give  a  man  immense  and  startling  powers.  There  are  many  proofs  that 
it  is  so,  and  not  the  least  of  them  is  what  occurred  in  this  very  plague  at 
Ephesus.  There  I  not  only  unmasked  the  disease,  which  had  assumed  the 
shape  of  an  old  beggar-man ;  but  after  detecting  it  I  vanquished  it,  not  by 
curing  its  victims,  but  by  banishing  it  from  the  city.  Whose  aid  I  invoked 
in  doing  so  is  shown  by  the  statue  which  I  erected  at  Ephesus  to  com¬ 
memorate  the  event.  It  is  the  figure  of  Hercules  the  Averter  of  Evil,  whom 
I  associated  with  myself  in  the  task  because  his  wisdom  and  courage  once 
freed  Elis  from  an  epidemic  by  purging  the  emanations  which  the  earth 
was  giving  off  by  the  compulsion  of  Augeas.  Do  you  think,  O  Emperor, 
that  any  man  who  sought  fame  as  a  sorcerer  would  attribute  his  own 
achievements  to  a  god?  What  admirers  of  his  skill  would  he  have  left,  if 


226 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


he  did  yield  the  credit  to  some  deity?  Then  again,  what  sorcerer  would 
invoke  Hercules?  Those  ill-starred  wretches  claim  the  aid  of  the  gods  of 
the  lower  regions  by  their  trenches  and  their  incantations,  but  Hercules 
will  have  none  of  them,  for  he  is  pure  and  of  good  will  to  men.  I  once 
invoked  him  on  another  occasion  in  the  Peloponnesus,  when  a  lamia 
prowled  about  Corinth  there,  devouring  beautiful  youths,  and  he  helped  me 
in  that  conflict,  not  for  high  pay,  but  satisfied  with  honey-cakes  and  in¬ 
cense,  and  because  he  is  glad  to  render  service  to  mankind.  He  sought 
no  other  reward  for  his  labors  under  Eurystheus.  Be  not  impatient  at  hear¬ 
ing  of  the  exploits  of  Hercules,  O  Emperor,  for  Athene  herself  watched 
over  him  for  his  benevolence,  and  for  bringing  deliverance  to  men. 

''As  you  call  on  me  to  take  up  my  defense  against  that  charge  of 
sacrificing  a  boy,  for  that  gesture  of  your  hand  indicates  as  much, 
listen  now  to  the  truth  of  the  matter.  Ready  as  I  am  to  do  anything  for 
the  safety  of  those  friends  of  mine,  I  have  never  offered  any  sacrifice  in 
their  behalf;  nor  would  I  ever  sacrifice  any  living  thing  for  any  purpose; 
nor  would  I  touch  a  bloody  offering,  nor  offer  any  prayer  in  sight  of  a 
sacrificial  knife,  or  of  the  victim  which  it  bespeaks.  You  see  in  me  no 
Scythian,  O  Emperor,  nor  any  unsocial  outcast,  nor  have  I  ever  dwelt 
with  Taurians  or  Massagetse,  and  if  I  did  I  would  make  them  give  up  their 
human  sacrifices.  What  pitch  of  frenzy  would  I  have  reached,  if  I,  the 
chief  expounder  of  divination  and  of  its  scope  and  limitations ;  I,  who 
know  better  than  anyone  that  the  gods  reveal  their  designs  to  pure  and  wise 
men  without  the  need  of  divination,  if  I,  notwithstanding  all  that,  should 
have  set  my  hand  to  slaughter,  and  to  handling  unholy  and  impure  entrails ! 
The  divine  voice  of  my  guardian  genius  would  have  repudiated  me  as  un¬ 
clean  ! 

"Aside  from  the  horrid  nature  of  such  a  sacrifice,  if  you  turn  to 
what  the  accuser  said  a  little  time  ago,  you  will  find  that  he  himself 
absolves  me  from  this  charge.  As  he  has  said  that  I  predicted  the  plague 
to  the  Ephesians  without  resorting  to  any  sacrifice,  what  need  had  I  of 
a  victim  to  ascertain  what  I  might  know  without  such  rites?  What  need 
of  necromancy  was  there,  for  a  conspiracy  which  he  says  had  been  entered 
into  with  confidence  long  before  that,  by  myself  and  the  others?  If  the 
purpose  of  this  charge  is  to  implicate  Nerva  and  his  co-defendants,  I  re¬ 
iterate  what  I  said  before,  when  you  asked  me  about  it:  that  I  consider 
Nerva  worthy  of  any  preferment  and  of  every  honor,  but  that  he  is  not 
capable  of  administering  any  high  office,  because  his  physical  strength  is 
so  impaired  by  illness  that  he  is  not  equal  to  managing  his  own  affairs. 
He  has  always  expressed  admiration  of  your  vigor  and  intellect;  which 
is  not  surprising,  for  human  nature  leads  us  to  prize  any  quality  which  is 
beyond  our  own  powers.  Nerva  had  great  respect  for  me,  and  I  never 


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227 


found  him  laughing  or  joking  in  my  presence,  as  is  usual  among  friends; 
and  when  I  am  with  him  he  speaks  with  embarrassment,  as  boys  do 
to  their  parents  and  teachers,  and  he  blushes  too ;  and  because  he 
knows  that  I  especially  like  moderation,  he  carries  it  to  such  an  extent  that 
he  seems  somewhat  too  diffident.  How  can  it  be  believed  that  Nerva  is 
aspiring  to  govern  the  empire,  when  it  is  more  than  he  can  do  to  manage 
his  household  ?  Or  that  he  is  conspiring  with  me  in  momentous  enterprises, 
when  he  is  too  shy  to  talk  to  me  on  commonplace  subjects?  Or  that  he 
makes  me  a  confidant  of  schemes  which  he  would  confide  to  no  one  if  he 
thought  as  I  do?  And  how  can  a  philosopher  like  me  be  suspected  of  dis¬ 
carding  philosophy  and  of  trusting  to  soothsaying  to  fortify  such  a  man’s 
resolution?  If  I  were  told  that  Orfitus,  or  Rufus,  whom  I  know  to  be  hon¬ 
orable  and  sensible  men,  though  a  trifle  dull-witted,  was  ambitious  to  make 
himself  emperor,  I  would  find  it  hard  to  say  which  suspicion  would  be 
more  unlikely,  against  them  or  against  Nerva;  but  if  they  are  charged 
with  being  his  backers,  I  would  certainly  rather  believe  that  he  was  trying 
for  the  throne,  than  that  he  had  selected  them  to  help  him  get  it. 

“When  my  accuser  charges  me  with  such  activities,  he  should  at  least 
indicate  what  motive  I  could  have  for  being  an  accomplice  in  revolutionary 
plots.  He  admits  that  I  have  had  no  money  from  them,  and  that  my  ad¬ 
herence  to  their  cause  has  not  been  obtained  by  any  rewards.  But  it  may  be 
said  that  avarice  has  induced  me  to  put  off  my  demands  on  them,  until  they 
succeed  in  seizing  power,  when  I  may  ask  for  much  and  get  more  than  is 
possible  now.  What  reason  is  there  for  believing  such  suggestions,  O 
Emperor  ?  Recall  your  own  reign,  and  those  of  your  brother  and  of  your 
father  who  ruled  before  you,  and  of  Nero  under  whom  they  held  command. 
Except  for  my  absence  in  India,  I  passed  thirty-eight  years  of  my  life  as  a 
public  character  under  those  emperors,  before  you  succeeded  them  as  sole 
ruler,  and  during  all  that  time  I  never  entered  an  emperor’s  doors,  except 
those  of  your  father  in  Egypt  before  he  came  to  the  throne,  and  when  he 
declared  that  he  had  come  there  to  consult  me.  Neither  was  I  obsequious 
in  my  speeches  to  emperors,  nor  to  the  public  about  emperors,  nor  did  I 
parade  the  letters  which  emperors  had  written  to  me,  nor  boast  that  they 
might  write  to  me,  and  never  did  I  degrade  myself  by  flattering  any 
emperor  in  hope  of  reward.  If  you  were  listing  men  as  either  rich 
or  poor,  and  asked  me  in  which  class  I  rate  myself,  I  would  say  that 
I  am  the  richest  man  in  the  world,  for  contentment  equals  the  wealth 
of  Pactolus  and  of  Lydia.  How  can  it  be  imagined  that  I  am  waiting 
for  those  conspirators  to  succeed  in  their  problematic  seizure  of  the 
throne,  in  order  to  present  my  bill  for  services  to  them,  when  I  never  did 
accept  any  gift  from  anyone  of  all  you  other  emperors,  whom  I  knew  to 
be  actually  in  power?  What  advantage  could  I  expect  from  revolution^ 


228 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


when  I  have  always  refused  present  offers  of  preferment?  And  yet  this 
Euphrates  exemplifies  how  much  profit  a  philosopher  may  get  by  toadying 
to  the  great.  Do  you  ask  why  I  say  that  he  has  got  money  from  them? 
They  are  gushing  fountains  of  wealth  for  him,  and  already  he  is  well- 
known  at  the  banks  as  a  dealer,  wholesale  and  retail,  a  tax-farmer,  a 
usurer,  selling  himself  and  being  sold,  in  all  those  capacities.  He  sticks 
like  a  leech  to  the  door-posts  of  the  great,  more  constant  in  attendance 
than  the  janitors  themselves,  and  often  staying  there  longer  than  they 
do,  like  a  hungry  hound.  He  never  wastes  a  drachma  on  any  philosopher ; 
but  he  uses  his  wealth  to  attack  everybody  else,  stuffing  this  Egyptian  here 
with  fees,  and  sharpening  against  me  this  accuser’s  tongue,  which  ought  to 
be  cut  out !  However,  I  will  leave  Euphrates  to  be  dealt  with  by  you,  for 
unless  you  like  flatterers,  you  will  find  him  worse  than  I  have  described 
him. 

'T  have  now  come  to  the  last  point  of  my  defense.  Need  you  ask 
what  it  is,  or  to  what  it  is  directed?  The  complaint  contains  a  mournful 
dirge  for  an  Arcadian  boy,  who  it  says  was  cut  up  at  night  by  me;  but 
whether  that  means  that  I  did  it  in  my  sleep  or  not  I  do  not  know.  It  goes 
on  to  say  that  this  boy  came  of  a  good  family,  and  was  beautiful,  like  all 
Arcadian  boys,  even  when  dirty,  and  that  I  murdered  him,  while  he 
screamed  and  begged  for  life,  and  that  then  I  prayed  to  the  gods  to  grant 
me  a  true  revelation  of  the  future,  and  I  lifted  to  them  my  hands,  reeking 
with  that  boy’s  blood !  Up  to  that  point  they  are  accusing  me,  but  then 
they  proceed  to  indict  the  gods,  who  they  say  hearkened  to  me  when  I  in¬ 
voked  them  in  that  manner,  and  caused  the  entrails  to  show  favorable 
omens,  and  did  not  strike  me  dead  for  my  blasphemy.  How  can  I  charac¬ 
terize  the  horror  of  merely  listening  to  such  a  statement  ? 

^‘As  to  defending  myself  from  the  charge,  I  ask  first,  who  was  this 
Arcadian  boy?  If  he  was  not  of  obscure  birth,  and  did  not  look  like  a 
slave,  the  accuser  might  have  ascertained  who  his  parents  were,  and  from 
what  tribe  he  came,  and  what  Arcadian  city  brought  him  up,  and  from 
what  altars  he  was  torn,  to  be  sacrificed  at  Rome ;  but  he  tells  us  not  a  word 
of  all  this,  though  he  is  a  pastmaster  in  lying.  The  only  conclusion  possible 
from  this  is  that  the  charge  relates  to  some  slave,  for  only  slaves  have  no 
name,  nor  parents,  nor  city,  nor  farm,  and  are  without  any  means  of 
identification.  If  the  boy  was  a  slave,  what  slave-dealer  sold  him?  Who 
bought  him  from  Arcadians?  If  persons  of  that  nationality  are  peculiarly 
valuable  to  sorcerers  for  slaughtering  purposes,  the  boy  must  have  cost 
a  good  deal  of  money,  and  some  agent  must  have  been  sent  from  here 
to  the  Peloponnesus  to  get  us  an  Arcadian.  We  would  have  no  diffi¬ 
culty  in  buying  Pontic  or  Lydian  or  Phrygian  slaves  in  this  market,  for 
one  meets  them  on  the  road,  coming  here  in  gangs.  Those  nations,  in  com- 


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229 


mon  with  almost  all  barbarians,  do  not  consider  slavery  disgraceful,  be¬ 
cause  they  have  always  been  under  foreign  rule,  and  are  so  yet.  With 
Phrygians  it  is  actually  a  national  custom  to  sell  their  own  flesh  and  blood 
into  slavery,  and  then  to  dismiss  them  from  their  minds.  But  the  Greeks 
love  freedom  still,  and  no  Greek  will  sell  a  slave  to  be  sent  out  of  the 
country,  so  that  slave-exporters  and  slave-stealers  are  unknown  there. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  Arcadians,  for  besides  being  the  most  liberty- 
loving  of  Greeks,  they  are  always  short  of  slaves  themselves.  Arcadia  is 
large,  and  both  its  mountains  and  foothills  are  covered  with  forests,  so  that 
they  need  many  farm-laborers  and  goat-herds  and  swine-herds  and 
shepherds  and  cow-herds,  and  men  to  look  after  their  cattle  and  horses, 
and  the  woods  keep  many  wood-cutters  busy,  who  are  trained  to  the  work 
from  boyhood.  Even  if  conditions  there  were  different,  and  they  exported 
slaves  like  others,  what  peculiar  contribution  would  a  dissected  Arcadian 
furnish  to  that  science  of  necromancy,  of  which  so  much  has  been  said? 
Arcadians  are  not  so  conspicuous  for  their  wisdom  among  Gre'eks  that 
their  entrails  would  be  likely  to  convey  more  information  than  other 
people’s.  On  the  contrary,  they  are  the  greatest  louts  in  the  world,  very 
like  their  own  hogs  in  eating  acorns,  and  in  most  other  respects. 

‘‘Perhaps  I  have  been  more  diffuse  than  usual  in  telling  of  the 
Arcadians,  and  have  wandered  away  from  my  subject  into  the  Pelopon¬ 
nesus;  but  what  other  kind  of  defense  befits  such  an  accusation?  I 
never  have  sacrificed ;  I  never  do  sacrifice ;  I  never  touch  blood  even 
when  it  has  been  shed  by  a  priest  upon  an  altar.  Pythagoras  estab¬ 
lished  that  rule,  and  all  his  followers  obey  it ;  and  so  do  the  Gymnosophists 
of  Egypt,  and  the  Sages  of  India,  from  whom  the  first  principles  of  the 
Pythagorean  philosophy  were  derived.  Those  who  sacrifice  according  to 
this  precept  are  manifestly  acceptable  to  the  gods,  who  bestow  on  them 
long  life,  and  perfect  health,  immune  from  diseases,  and  enable  them  to 
grow  in  wisdom  day  by  day,  exempt  from  tyranny,  and  with  no  wish  un¬ 
gratified.  It  seems  not  unreasonable  to  believe  that  the  gods  require  men 
to  be  good,  so  that  their  offerings  may  be  pure ;  and  that  because  they  are  of 
the  same  mind  as  I  concerning  sacrifices,  they  have  sown  incense-bearing 
trees  in  the  most  innocent  part  of  the  world,  in  order  that  we  may  make  our 
oblations  to  them  of  that  substance,  and  may  banish  steel  from  their 
temples,  and  blood  from  their  altars.  Nevertheless  this  accuser  asserts  that 
I  have  been  so  utterly  unmindful  of  the  gods  as  to  offer  this  sacrifice,  con¬ 
trary  to  all  my  principles ;  and  such  a  sacrifice  moreover  as  no  human  being 
would  offer. 

“The  time  which  he  alleges  for  it  shows  my  innocence  of  itself. 
If  I  was  outside  the  walls  at  all  on  the  day  when  he  says  it  occurred,  I  will 
admit  that  I  offered  the  sacrifice,  and  what  is  more,  that  I  ate  the  victim. 


230 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


You  have  often  asked  me,  however,  O  Emperor,  if  I  was  not  staying  in 
Rome  at  that  time.  You  yourself  were  here  too,  O  best  of  Emperors,  but 
you  would  not  say  that  you  offered  such  a  sacrifice.  The  accuser  also 
was  here,  yet  he  will  not  confess  that  he  did  the  murder,  though  he  was 
living  in  Rome ;  and  there  were  many  thousand  other  men  here  as  well, 
whom  it  would  be  much  simpler  to  exile  wholesale  than  to  try,  if  being 
here  is  proof  of  their  guilt.  The  very  circumstance  of  a  man’s  coming  to 
Rome  shows  that  he  is  not  engaged  in  any  criminal  conspiracy;  for  life 
in  the  city,  where  there  are  eyes  everywhere,  and  where  every  rumor  true 
or  false  is  listened  to,  gives  no  opportunity  to  plot  sedition  except  by  court¬ 
ing  death ;  while  it  does  very  quickly  teach  prudent  and  law-abiding  men 
to  be  cautious  even  in  their  lawful  acts. 

^What  then  was  I  doing  on  that  night,  accuser?  If  I  were  you,  and 
that  question  were  asked  me,  as  you  are  here  to  ask  it,  I  would  have  to 
reply  that  I  was  contriving  prosecutions  and  criminal  charges  against 
honorable  men,  and  ‘plotting  how  to  convict  the  innocent,  and  how  to 
delude  the  emperor  by  false  witnesses,  so  that  my  name  might  become 
famous,  and  his  be  fouled  with  blood.  If  you  should  ask  that  ques¬ 
tion  of  me  in  my  character  as  a  philosopher,  I  would  say  that  I  was  ap¬ 
preciating  that  laughter  of  Democritus  which  he  bestowed  on  all  human 
affairs.  But  finally,  since  you  are  asking  about  me,  myself,  I  answer  that 
I  was  sitting  by  the  bedside  of  Philiscus  of  Melos,  who  had  been  my  dis¬ 
ciple  for  four  years,  and  who  was  so  seriously  ill  at  that  time  that  he  died 
soon  after.  By  Zeus  !  How  often  I  longed  for  some  spell  which  might  save 
his  life,  or  that  I  knew  those  songs  of  Orpheus,  if  such  there  were,  which 
could  revive  the  dead  !  I  would  even  have  journeyed  to  Hades  for  his  sake, 
if  the  way  had  been  open  to  me,  so  closely  had  he  attached  himself  to  me  by 
all  his  qualities,  befitting  a  philosopher  and  after  my  own  heart.  The 
consular  Telesinus  will  also  testify  that  I  was  there  at  that  time,  O  Em¬ 
peror,  for  he  shared  my  vigil  in  Philiscus’  room  that  night.  If  you  discredit 
Telesinus  begause  he  is  tainted  with  philosophy,  I  will  call  as  witnesses  the 
attending  physicians,  who  were  Seleucus  of  Cyzicus,  and  Stratocles  the 
Sidonian.  Ask  them  whether  I  am  telling  the  truth.  Moreover,  more  than 
thirty  students  accompanied  them  there,  all  of  whom  will  testify  probably  to 
the  same  effect.  I  would  ask  that  the  kinsmen  of  Philiscus  be  brought  here 
to  corroborate  these  others,  but  you  would  charge  me  with  seeking  to  ad¬ 
journ  the  trial,  because  directly  after  his  death  they  left  Rome  and  returned 
to  Melos  for  the  funeral.  Let  the  other  witnesses  named  come  forward  and 
give  their  evidence.” 

(Here  the  witnesses  mentioned  are  examined  and  testify  as  stated.) 

‘‘The  evidence  of  these  witnesses  shows  how  little  truth  there  is  in 
the  allegations  of  this  indictment,  for  it  demonstrates  that  on  that  night  I 


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231 


was  not  in  the  fields  but  in  this  city ;  not  outside  the  walls,  but  in  a  dwell¬ 
ing-  house ;  not  with  Nerva,  but  with  Philiscus ;  not  putting  anyone  to  death, 
but  praying  hard  for  a  life ;  not  aiding  ambitions  but  philosophy ;  not  plot¬ 
ting  sedition  against  you,  but  trying  to  save  a  man  of  my  own  kind. 

“What  about  that  Arcadian  then?  What  about  those  fables  of  vic¬ 
tims?  Why  this  attempt  to  deceive  you  with  such  an  invention?  It  is 
because  your  acceptance  would  make  it  true,  even  if  it  never  had  hap¬ 
pened.  But  I  ask  you,  O  Emperor,  what  you  will  make  of  the  absurdity 
of  such  a  sacrifice?  There  once  were  famous  diviners  who  were  skilled 
in  the  art  of  reading  entrails,  men  like  Megistias  the  Acarnanian,  and 
Aristander  the  Lycian,  and  Silanus  the  Ambracian.  Megistias  was  the 
sacrificer  for  Leonidas,  king  of  Sparta,  and  Aristander  had  the  same  post 
with  Alexander  of  Macedon,  and  Silanus  with  Cyrus,  the  younger.  If 
there  had  been  any  very  significant  or  scientific  or  reliable  indication  to  be 
found  by  examining  human  entrails,  the  requisite  victim  could  easily  have 
been  procured  from  their  kingly  patrons,  who  abounded  with  cup-bearers 
and  captives,  and  who  were  accountable  to  no  one  for  their  misdeeds,  and 
in  no  danger  of  prosecution  for  manslaughter.  It  is  obvious  that  those 
diviners  thought  as  I  do,  who  am  here  on  trial  for  my  life  on  such  a  charge, 
that  the  entrails  of  brute  beasts,  which  have  been  unconscious  of  their  im¬ 
pending  doom  to  the  last,  are  not  likely  to  be  distorted,  because  they  are 
slain  before  they  realize  it.  But  how  can  a  man,  morbidly  apprehensive  of 
death  before  it  approaches,  possibly  reveal  in  his  entrails  any  divine  or  well 
omened  message,  when  he  has  seen  his  death  impending  and  displayed  be¬ 
fore  his  eyes  ? 

“To  understand  how  correct  and  reasonable  this  theory  of  mine  is  you 
should  listen  to  this  explanation,  O  Emperor.  Those  skilled  in  reading 
entrails  declare  that  the  tripod  of  their  science  rests  upon  the  liver,  which 
is  formed  from  impure  blood,  because  the  heart  retains  all  uncontaminated 
blood,  and  distributes  it  throughout  the  body  by  means  of  the  blood-con¬ 
veying  veins.  Now  anger  excites  the  bile,  dropping  it  on  the  liver,  and  fear 
drives  it  into  the  liver’s  recesses.  Seething  under  the  stimulation  of  mental 
excitement,  and  crowded  out  of  its  ducts,  the  bile  drips  down  upon  the 
underlying  liver,  and  overspreads  the  smooth  surface  of  that  organ,  which 
is  the  part  consulted  by  diviners.  When  it  is  driven  inward  by  terror,  it 
draws  in  with  it  the  polish  of  that  smooth  surface,  and  the  purer  part  of 
the  blood  retires  before  it,  so  that  the  liver  becomes  saturated  with  spleen, 
as  the  blood  makes  its  way  out  through  the  surrounding  membrane,  being 
lighter  than  the  turbid  fluid.  If  then  the  victim  would  furnish  no  reliable 
indication,  what  motive  could  there  be  for  such  sacrifices,  O  Emperor? 
Human  nature  itself  prevents  their  furnishing  such  an  indication,  by  the 
effects  of  the  dread  of  death;  and  all  who  die  prove  it,  for  brave  men  die 


232 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


angry  and  cowards  die  afraid.  Wherefore  the  science  of  entrail-reading, 
even  among  barbarians  if  they  are  not  entirely  devoid  of  knowledge,  pre¬ 
fers  for  its  purpose  the  bodies  of  goats  and  lambs,  because  they  are  silly 
creatures  not  far  removed  from  senseless;  but  it  does  not  consider  cocks 
and  swine  and  bulls  suitable  for  its  revelations,  because  they  are  excitable. 
I  know  that  the  accuser  is  irritated  by  my  addressing  these  arguments  to 
your  superior  intelligence,  but  you  seem  to  be  listening  with  interest  to 
what  I  am  saying,  and  if  I  fail  to  make  myself  clear  in  any  respect,  please 
ask  me  to  explain  it. 

“I  have  now  said  everything  which  seems  to  me  requisite  to  reply  to 
this  accusation  by  the  Egyptian ;  and  as  I  must  now  deal  with  the  charges 
made  by  Euphrates  concerning  my  speeches  in  Ionia,  I  ask  you  in  the 
first  place,  O  Emperor,  to  decide  which  of  us  is  the  better  philosopher  in 
the  matter.  He  exerts  himself  to  calumniate  me,  and  I  think  him  un¬ 
worthy  of  notice.  He  thinks  you  an  arbitrary  tyrant,  and  I  a  just  ruler. 
He  offers  you  a  sword  against  me,  and  I  appeal  to  your  reason.  The  pre¬ 
texts  for  his  slanders  are  addresses  delivered  by  me  in  Ionia,  which  he 
asserts  were  meant  to  weaken  your  authority.  In  lecturing  upon  the  Eates 
and  upon  Necessity,  I  used  as  an  illustration  to  confirm  my  proposition  the 
history  of  monarchs,  because  the  doings  of  such  as  you  seemed  the  most 
conspicuous  examples  to  be  drawn  from  human  life.  I  dilated  upon  the 
resistless  force  of  the  Fates,  and  how  the  thread  they  spin  is  so  inexorable 
that  if  they  have  allotted  empire  to  one  man  which  is  held  by  another,  and 
the  ruler  shall  have  slain  his  predestined  successor,  to  keep  him  from  his 
throne,  the  slain  man  would  come  to  life  again,  so  that  the  decree  of  the 
Fates  may  be  fulfilled.  We  public  speakers  usually  exaggerate  our  para¬ 
doxical  statements,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  distrust  plausible  orators, 
and  that  proposition  was  tantamount  to  saying  that  if  a  man  is  destined  to 
be  a  carpenter  he  will  be  a  carpenter,  even  though  his  hands  are  cut  off ; 
or  that  the  runner  who  is  fated  to  win  a  race  at  the  Olympic  games  will 
win  it,  if  he  breaks  his  leg;  or  that  the  archer  for  whom  the  Fates  have 
ordained  success  will  not  miss  his  mark  even  if  he  loses  his  eyes.  Taking 
kings  for  my  example,  I  instanced  Laius,  and  Astyages  the  Mede,  and 
many  others  who,  though  they  seemed  to  have  taken  every  precaution  to 
maintain  themselves  in  power  by  putting  to  death  their  sons  or  grandsons, 
as  they  fancied,  had  after  all  been  dethroned  by  those  descendants  when 
they  emerged  from  concealment  at  the  appointed  time.  If  I  were  willing 
to  stoop  to  flattery,  I  would  tell  you  that  I  had  in  mind  your  own  ex¬ 
perience,  when  you  were  beset  by  'Vitellius  in  this  very  place,  and  the 
temple  of  Zeus  on  the  Capitol  was  burned,  and  Vitellius  said  that  if 
only  you  did  not  escape  his  clutch  all  would  go  well  with  him,  although 
you  were  then  merely  a  boy,  and  nothing  to  what  you  are  now ;  and  how 


BOOK  EIGHT 


233 


nevertheless,  because  the  Fates  were  against  him,  he  perished  by  his  own 
devices,  and  now’ you  possess  all  that  he  held  then.  But  the  style  of  flattery 
is  distasteful  to  me,  because  it  seems  to  lack  finish  and  elegance,  so  I  will 
break  that  string,  and  ask  you  to  imagine  that  I  thought  not  at  all  of  your 
own  history  and  was  merely  discoursing  generally  upon  Fate  and  Neces¬ 
sity.  Euphrates  charges  me  with  derogating  from  your  power  by  doing  so. 
The  gods  in  general  allow  such  things  to  be  said  of  them  and  even  Zeus 
hears  with  equanimity  the  poets  sing  of  him  such  passages  as  in  the  Iliad : 
‘Woe  is  me,  when  my  Sarpedon  is  to  be  overcome !’  and  the  like,  in  which 
he  is  represented  as  saying  that  he  has  yielded  his  son  to  the  Fates ;  and 
when  they  say  in  the  Psychostasia  that  Zeus  adorned  Sarpedon’s  brother 
Minos  with  a  golden  sceptre  when  he  died,  and  made  him  judge  of  souls 
in  Hades,  but  could  not  save  him  from  the  Fates.  Why  then  should  you 
take  offense,  when  the  same  thing  is  said  of  you,  O  Emperor,  which  the 
everlasting  gods  acknowledge  of  themselves?  They  do  not  slay  poets  for 
speaking  of  it.  It  behooves  us  all  to  be  submissive  to  the  Fates,  and  not 
to  repine  at  mutations  of  fortune,  nor  question  what  Sophocles  has  said 
best  of  all :  *  * 

“  ‘The  gods  alone  know  not  decay  nor  death ; 

All  else  besides  almighty  time  destroys.’ 

“Men’s  fortunes  are  pivoted,  O  Emperor,  and  a  day  is  the  span  of 
their  happiness.  A  has  what  I  once  had,  and  B  has  what  A  had,  and  even 
while  having  they  have  it  not.  In  view  of  that,  O  Emperor,  give  over 
banishments ;  give  over  bloodshed ;  treat  philosophy  as  you  will,  for  if  it 
is  genuine  it  will  take  no  harm ;  but  wipe  away  men’s  tears,  for  now  from 
the  islands  of  the  sea,  and  far  louder  from  the  mainland,  comes  the  echo 
of  lamentation  from  tens  of  thousands,  each  of  whom  has  cause  to  lament. 
These  woes  without  number  all  have  their  source  in  the  tongues  of  in¬ 
formers,  who  make  you  suspect  everyone,  O  Emperor,  and  make  everyone 
suspect  you.” 

8. 

At  the  end  of  the  draft  of  this  proposed  defense  written  by  the  Master, 
I  find  the  last  words  of  the  speech  which  he  actually  delivered  in  the  court¬ 
room  : 

“For  you  do  not  slay  me,  since  I  am  fated  not  to  die;” 

and  also  the  words  immediately  preceding  that  quotation  which  serve 
to  introduce  it.  After  he  had  vanished  from  the  court  in  that  supernatural 
and  unspeakably  surprising  way,  the  tyrant  did  not  act  as  most  of  those 
present  supposed  that  he  would.  They  expected  him  to  yell  savagely,  and 
to  order  instant  pursuit,  and  to  proclaim  Apollonius  as  interdicted  through- 


234 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


out  the  empire.  He  did  none  of  these  things,  but  seemed  anxious  to  con¬ 
ciliate  public  opinion,  realizing  at  last  that  he  was  not  able  to  cope  with 
this  man.  We  may  judge  from  what  followed  whether  or  not  he  meant 
to  indicate  contempt  for  him,  for  he  seemed  dumbfounded  rather  than 
scornful. 

9. 

Immediately  after  the  trial  he  took  up  another  case  in  which  a  city 
I  believe  was  suing  some  individual  about  a  will ;  but  he  kept  forgetting 
not  only  the  names  of  the  parties,  but  the  nature  of  the  suit ;  and  his  ques¬ 
tions  were  unmeaning,  and  his  rulings  quite  irrelevant,  showing  that  the 
tyrant  was  agitated  and  confused,  and  the  more  so  because  he  had  been 
led  by  flatterers  to  believe  that  nothing  ever  escaped  him. 

10. 

Having  produced  this  effect  upon  the  tyrant,  and  having  exhibited  as 
the  plaything  of  his  wisdom  the  man  at  whom  the  whole  world,  Greek  or 
barbarian,  trembled,  Apollonius  left  the  court  before  noon,  and  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  same  day  he  appeared  to  Demetrius  and  Damis  at 
Puteoli.  This  was  his  reason  for  directing  Damis  to  go  there  without 
waiting  for  the  trial,  and  to  go  by  land.  Damis  was  an  indispensable  com¬ 
panion,  but  he  did  not  tell  him  of  his  plans  beforehand,  merely  instructing 
him  to  do  what  would  fit  in  with  them. 

11. 

Damis  had  arrived  at  Puteoli  on  the  day  before  the  trial,  and  had 
discussed  with  Demetrius  all  that  had  happened  previous  to  his  leaving 
Rome.  This  news  made  Demetrius  more  apprehensive  than  he  need  have 
been,  considering  that  it  had  to  do  with  Apollonius,  and  on  the  following 
day  he  continued  to  question  Damis  about  the  same  matters,  while  they 
walked  along  that  part  of  the  seashore  where  tradition  places  the  home  of 
Calypso.  They  had  no  hope  that  Apollonius  would  come  to  them,  for  the 
tyrant  was  pitiless ;  but  for  all  that  they  were  not  neglecting  his  instruc¬ 
tions,  knowing  what  they  did  of  the  man.  At  last  they  seated  themselves 
sadly  in  the  Cave  of  the  Nymphs,  where  there  is  a  basin  of  white  stone 
enclosing  a  spring  of  water  which  never  overflows,  and  never  subsides  be¬ 
low  the  margin,  nO'  matter  how  much  water  is  drawn  from  it.  After 
arguing  about  the  nature  of  this  spring  rather  less  earnestly  than  usual, 
owing  to  their  anxiety  concerning  the  Master,  the  conversation  reverted 
once  more  to  the  occurrences  previous  to  the  trial. 

12. 

When  Damis  burst  into  tears,  groaning  some  words  like  ‘‘O  ye  gods ! 
when  shall  we  see  that  good  and  noble  comrade  of  ours  again  ?”  Apollonius 


BOOK  EIGHT 


235 


was  actually  within  hearing,  having  just  reached  the  entrance  of  the  cave, 
and  he  called  out  to  them:  “You  will  see  him  directly!  In  fact,  you  are 
seeing  him  now  !”  “Do  we  see  you  alive?”  asked  Demetrius,  “for  if  you  are 
dead,  our  weeping  is  not  yet  done.”  Apollonius  held  out  his  hand  to  him, 
saying:  “Take  hold  of  that !  If  it  slips  through  your  fingers,  I  am  a  ghost 
come  from  the  abode  of  Persephone,  such  as  the  gods  of  the  lower  regions 
sometimes  vouchsafe  to  broken-hearted  mourners.  But  if  it  remains  solid 
in  your  grip,  then  try  to  persuade  Damis  too  that  I  am  a  living  man,  and 
have  not  yet  discarded  my  body !”  They  hung  back  no  longer,  but  leaping 
to  their  feet  they  threw  their  arms  about  the  Master,  kissing  him,  and  ask¬ 
ing  him  about  the  case;  for  Demetrius  supposed  that  it  could  not  have 
come  to  trial  at  all,  or  he  would  have  been  executed,  whether  innocent  or 
guilty,  and  Damis  was  inclined  to  believe  that  it  had  been  taken  up  before 
the  appointed  day,  never  dreaming  that  it  had  occurred  that  very  morning. 
To  their  questions  Apollonius  replied :  “My  dear  friends,  I  have  pleaded 
my  case  and  won  it.  My  defense  began  a  few  hours  ago,  shortly  before 
noon  today.”  “How  could  you  come  so  far  then  in  so  short  a  time?” 
asked  Demetrius.  “You  may  attribute  my  speed  to  divine  help,”  said 
Apollonius.  “Imagine  any  mode  of  conveyance  you  like,  except  wax  wings 
or  a  ram !” 

Then  said  Demetrius :  “I  believe  that  everywhere  and  always  some 
god  presides  over  all  you  say  and  all  you  do,  and  that  your  present  safety 
is  due  to  that  assistance.  But  what  defense  did  you  urge?  What  case  did 
the  accuser  make  out  against  you?  How  did  the  judge  behave?  What 
questions  did  he  ask?  What  rulings  did  he  make  in  your  favor,  and  what 
against  you?  Tell  us  all  about  it  at  once,  so  that  I  may  repeat  everything 
to  Telesinus,  who  never  stops  asking  about  you.  He  was  drinking  with 
me  at  Antium  about  two  weeks  ago,  when  he  fell  asleep  with  his  head  on 
the  table,  at  the  middle  wine-cup;  and  he  dreamed  that  a  flood  of  fire  was 
overwhelming  the  world,  intercepting  or  overtaking  everyone  while  they 
tried  to  escape,  for  it  flowed  like  water ;  but  that  you  had  no  such  trouble 
as  the  others,  for  you  waded  through  it  and  it  divided  before  you  into  a 
path.  On  waking  from  this  vision  he  poured  a  libation  to  the  propitious 
gods,  and  bade  me  be  of  good  cheer  about  you.”  “I  am  not  surprised  that 
Telesinus  should  be  watching  over  me  in  his  sleep,”  said  Apollonius,  “for 
not  long  ago  he  did  it  when  he  was  awake.  You  shall  hear  how  the  trial 
went,  but  not  here;  for  evening  is  coming  on,  and  it  is  time  to  return  to 
the  city,  and  conversation  shortens  the  road  for  walkers  very  agreeably. 
Let  us  go,  and  we  can  talk  over  what  you  are  asking  about  as  we  go  along, 
and  I  will  tell  what  took  place  today  in  court.  Both  of  you  know  what 
happened  before  that;  you,  Damis,  because  you  were  there,  and  you, 
Demetrius,  because  you  have  heard  it  from  Damis  not  only  once,  but  over 


236 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


and  over  again,  by  Zeus !  unless  my  memory  of  you  fails !  I  will  go  on 
from  the  point  where  your  information  leaves  off,  beginning  with  their 
calling  me  into  court,  and  my  entering  it  naked.”  He  then  went  on  to  tell 
them  everything  that  had  been  said,  down  to  his  quotation,  “For  you  do 
not  slay  me,”  etc.,  and  then  he  described  how  he  had  left  the  court-room. 

13. 

At  that,  Demetrius  exclaimed :  “I  had  been  under  the  impression 
until  now  that  you  had  come  safely  off ;  but  to  do  it  in  the  way  you  have 
done  is  only  the  beginning  of  danger  for  you !  The  emperor  will  certainly 
interdict  you,  and  you  will  be  caught,  because  every  refuge  will  be  closed 
to  you !”  In  order  to  quiet  Demetrius’  anxieties,  Apollonius  said :  “If 
you  two  could  only  make  your  escape  from  him  as  easily  as  I  can !  I 
know  his  state  of  mind.  He  has  listened  to  nothing  but  flattery  since  he 
was  born,  and  now  at  last  he  has  heard  the  voice  of  rebuke.  A  tyrannical 
disposition  is  excited  by  servility,  and  it  is  crushed  by  reproof.  But 
I  must  And  some  place  to  rest,  for  I  have  not  bent  my  knees  since  the  con¬ 
test  began.”  Then  said  Damis :  “I  was  so  apprehensive  of  danger  to  the 
Master,  Demetrius,  that  I  did  my  best  to  dissuade  him  from  making  that 
journey  to  Rome  from  which  he  has  now  returned ;  and  you  too  urged  him 
not  to  expose  himself  voluntarily  to  such  desperate  peril.  When  it  came 
to  his  being  fettered,  and  I  thought  the  end  had  come,  he  told  me  that  he 
could  be  free  whenever  he  liked,  and  thereupon  he  showed  me  his  legs  un¬ 
shackled.  Then  for  the  first  time  I  realized  how  superhuman  he  is,  exceed¬ 
ing  all  our  earthly  wisdom ;  and  now,  if  I  ever  find  myself  encompassed  by 
even  worse  dangers  than  that,  I  shall  have  no  fear  so  long  as  I  am  under  his 
protection.  But  it  is  almost  dark  now,  so  let  us  go  to  our  lodging,  where 
we  can  give  the  Master  the  care  which  he  needs.”  Apollonius  said :  “All 
I  need  is  sleep,  and  I  do  not  care  whether  there  is  anything  else  there  or 
not.”  He  offered  a  prayer  to  Apollo  and  the  Sun,  and  then  entered  the 
house  where  Demetrius  had  his  lodging.  There,  after  washing  his  feet, 
and  telling  them  to  go  to  supper,  out  of  consideration  for  Damis,  as  they 
evidently  had  been  fasting,  he  threw  himself  down  on  a  bed,  and  fell 
asleep  while  invoking  slumber  with  a  line  from  Homer,  as  if  he  had  no 
reason  whatever  for  misgiving. 

14. 

Next  morning  at  dawn  Demetrius  asked  him  what  place  of  conceal¬ 
ment  he  had  chosen,  imagining  meantime  that  the  ringing  in  his  ears  was 
the  hoof-beats  of  horsemen  already  at  hand  to  wreak  the  tyrant’s  ven¬ 
geance  on  Apollonius;  but  the  Master  replied:  “Neither  the  emperor  nor 
anyone  else  will  pursue  me,  and  I  shall  take  ship  for  Greece.”  Demetrius 
said :  “It  is  by  no  means  safe  to  go  there,  for  it  is  too  exposed.  How  can 


BOOK  EIGHT 


237 


you  hide  yourself  in  the  open,  from  the  man  whom  you  could  not  escape 
even  if  you  kept  out  of  sight?”  “I  have  no  use  for  concealment,”  replied 
Apollonius;  “if  the  whole  earth  is  the  tyrant’s,  as  you  think,  it  is  better 
to  die  in  the  open  than  to  live  in  hiding.”  Turning  to  Damis,  he  asked : 
“Do  you  know  of  any  ship  about  to  sail  to  Sicily?”  Damis  answered: 
“Yes,  for  this  lodging  is  near  the  harbor,  and  the  crier  is  close  by  our 
door.  A  ship  is  just  casting  off,  as  I  can  tell  from  the  shouts  of  the  crew, 
and  from  their  activity  over  getting  in  the  anchors.”  “Let  us  go  on  board 
of  her  then,  Damis,”  said  Apollonius,  “and  we  will  sail  first  to  Sicily,  and 
then  to  the  Peloponnesus.”  “That  suits  me,”  said  Damis,  “let  us  go.” 

15. 

Bidding  farewell  to  the  foreboding  Demetrius,  and  telling  him  to 
maintain  such  confidence  as  a  man  should  feel  concerning  men,  they  sailed 
away  to  Sicily  with  a  favoring  wind.  Passing  by  Messina  they  reached 
Taormina  on  the  third  day,  and  were  carried  from  there  to  Syracuse.  In 
the  autumn  they  set  sail  from  Syracuse  for  the  Peloponnesus ;  and  after  a 
six  days’  voyage  at  sea,  they  arrived  at  the  outlets  of  the  Alpheus,  through 
which  that  river  discharges  its  fresh  water  into  the  Adriatic  and  Sicilian 
sea.  There  they  left  the  vessel,  as  they  wished  to  attend  the  Olympic 
games,  and  they  took  up  their  quarters  in  the  temple  of  Zeus,  not  proceed¬ 
ing  further  afield  than  Scillus.  The  news  swiftly  spread  through  Greece 
that  the  Master  still  lived,  and  that  he  had  come  to  Olympia.  This  report 
seemed  incredible  at  first,  for  they  had  given  up  all  hope  of  human  aid  for 
him,  when  they  heard  that  he  had  been  chained;  and  after  that  various 
rumors  had  reached  them ;  that  he  had  been  burned  alive ;  that  he  had 
been  dragged  about  while  still  living  by  hooks  set  in  his  collarbone ;  that  he 
had  been  hurled  from  a  precipice  or  into  the  sea.  But  when  his  arrival 
was  confirmed,  Greece  had  never  come  to  any  Olympic  games  with  such 
eagerness  as  it  flocked  on  that  occasion  to  see  him.  Elis  and  Sparta  came 
from  near  at  hand,  and  Corinth  from  the  far  end  of  the  Isthmus.  The 
Athenians  came  too,  for  though  they  were  outside  the  Peloponnesus  and  so 
were  later  in  arriving  than  those  from  the  cities  nearest  to  the  fountain  of 
Pisa,  all  the  most  honored  Athenians  swarmed  about  the  temple,  with  those 
students  who  resort  to  Athens  from  all  over  the  world.  Some  even  came 
to  Olympia  from  Megara  at  that  time,  and  many  from  Boeotia  and  Argos, 
and  all  the  most  noted  Phocians  and  Thessalians.  Some  of  those  who  came 
had  consorted  with  Apollonius  in  the  past,  and  wished  to  renew  their 
instruction  in  his  philosophy,  expecting  to  hear  more  wonderful  sayings 
from  him  than  ever.  Others,  who  were  unacquainted  with  him  until  then 
felt  themselves  disgraced  to  have  it  known  that  they  had  not  heard  such 
a  man.  He  decided  to  say  nothing  to  excite  applause,  in  answer  to  the 


N 


238  APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 

many  inquiries  how  he  had  managed  to  escape  from  the  tyrant;  and  he 
merely  replied  that  he  had  saved  himself  by  his  defense ;  but  many  new¬ 
comers  from  Italy  noised  abroad  what  had  occurred  in  the  court-room, 
and  Greece  was  almost  disposed  to  worship  him  from  a  belief  in  his 
divinity,  strengthened  as  it  was  by  his  refraining  from  any  boasting  of 
what  he  had  done. 

16. 

One  of  those  students  who  came  from  Athens  remarked  that  the 
emperor  was  in  high  favor  with  Athene,  to  which  Apollonius  rejoined : 
“Stop  talking  of  such  partialities  at  Olympia,  for  you  are  slandering  the 
goddess  in  her  father’s  presence  !”  When  the  youth  persisted  in  annoying 
him  by  saying  that  the  goddess  was  justified  in  her  favor  because  the 
emperor  was  the  honorary  Archon  of  her  namesake  city  of  Athens,  Apol¬ 
lonius  exclaimed :  “Would  that  he  were  of  the  Panathenaia  as  well !” 
This  shut  the  youth  up,  for  the  first  answer  intimated  that  he  degraded 
the  gods  by  asserting  that  they  favored  tyrants,  and  the  second  hinted  that 
it  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  honors  decreed  by  the  Athenians  to 
Harmodius  and  Aristogiton,  when  the  city  voted  to  set  up  their  statues 
in  the  market-place  for  slaying  a  tyrant  at  the  Panathenaia,  if  now  the 
Athenians  should  truckle  to  tyrants  by  choosing  one  as  Archon. 

17. 

When  Damis  notified  him  that  their  finances  were  at  so^  low  an  ebb 
that  very  little  travelling  money  was  left,  he  replied :  “I  will  see  to  that 
tomorrow and  next  day  he  entered  the  temple  and  said  to  the  priest : 
“Give  me  a  thousand  drachmas  from  the  treasury  of  Zeus,  unless  you  think 
that  he  will  be  too  angry  about  it.”  The  priest’s  answer  was :  “He  will 
not  be  angry  about  that,  but  only  because  you  do  not  take  more !” 

18. 

He  said  to  a  Thessalian  named  Isagoras  who  was  in  his  company  at 
Olympia:  “Tell  me,  Isagoras,  is  a  natio'nal  assembly  like  these  games  any¬ 
thing  noteworthy?”  “Indeed  it  is,”  replied  Isagoras.  “It  is  of  all  human 
institutions  the  most  cherished  by  the  gods,  and  the  most  delightful.”  “Of 
what  material  is  it  composed  then?”  asked  Apollonius.  “If  I  asked  you  the 
same  question  concerning  this  statue,  you  would  say  that  it  is  composed 
of  gold  and  ivory.”  “But  a  national  assembly  is  an  incorporeal  thing, 
Apollonius,  so  what  material  could  it  have?”  asked  Isagoras.  “Very  im¬ 
portant  material,  and  of  many  kinds,”  replied  Apollonius.  “There  are 
groves,  and  temples,  and  stadia,  that  go  to  make  it  up,  and  a  stage  perhaps, 
and  tribes  of  men,  some  from  near-at-hand,  others  from  places  further 
away  or  overseas.  Then  many  arts  and  inventions  go  to  its  making,  too ; 


BOOK  EIGHT 


239 


and  true  wisdom,  poets,  deliberations  and  discussions,  atliletic  games,  and 
sometimes  musical  competitions,  as  is  the  traditional  practice  at  Delphi.” 
Isagoras  said:  “It  is  plain  that  a  national  assembly  is  not  merely  a 
material  thing,  Apollonius,  but  it  contains  more  admirable  elements  than 
even  cities  do,  and  it  collects  and  combines  the  best  of  all  good  things,  and 
the  most  famous  of  all  famous  things.”  Thereupon  Apollonius  asked: 
“Are  we  then  to  believe  that  a  national  assembly  consists  of  the  men  in  it, 
as  some  think  ships  and  walls  to  be,  Isagoras,  or  should  we  reach 
a  different  opinion  about  it?”  “I  think  that  opinion  should  be  adopted 
as  a  complete  definition,  Apollonius,”  replied  Isagoras,  and  Apollonius 
rejoined:  “On  the  contrary,  any  one  who  considers  the  matter  as  I  do 
would  think  it  incomplete;  for  to  my  mind  men  need  ships  as  much 
as  ships  need  men,  and  no  one  would  ever  think  of  crossing  the  sea 
if  there  were  no  such  thing  as  a  ship;  and  walls  protect  men  as  much 
as  men  protect  walls.  By  the  same  reasoning,  a  national  assembly  is  not 
only  a  collection  of  men,  but  it  includes  also  the  place  where  they  meet. 
The  choice  of  place  is  more  important,  because  while  walls  and  ships  are 
entirely  built  by  the  hands  of  men,  these  places  of  assembly  have  been 
vulgarized  by  men’s  hands,  and  their  primitive  charm  has  been  destroyed, 
after  their  natural  beauty  had  caused  them  to  be  selected  originally  for 
such  assemblies.  All  these  gymnasia  and  porticos  and  fountains  and 
edifices  have  been  built  by  human  hands,  like  walls  and  ships  ;  but  this  river 
Alpheus  and  the  race-course  and  the  stadium  and  the  groves  were  here 
long  before  men  were.  The  river  supplied  water  for  drinking  and  bathing. 
The  race-course  was  a  spacious  field  in  which  horses  might  be  exercised. 
The  stadium  was  a  hollow  in  the  hills  a  stadium  long,  enclosing  an  area 
where  athletes  might  sprinkle  themselves  with  dust  and  might  wrestle  or 
box.  And  lastly  the  groves  furnished  wreaths  to  the  victors,  and  a  run¬ 
ning-track  for  training.  Hercules  had  in  mind  these  natural  advantages, 
as  well  as  the  scenic  beauty  of  Olympia,  when  he  chose  this  place  for  those 
games  which  are  celebrated  here  to  this  day.” 

19. 

After  continuously  discoursing  at  Olympia  for  forty  days  on  a  great 
variety  of  subjects,  he  made  this  public  announcement:  “Men  of  Greece, 
I  shall  address  you  in  your  several  cities,  on  the  subjects  of  public  assem¬ 
blies,  and  of  the  Mysteries,  and  of  sacrifices  and  libations,  all  of  which  re¬ 
quire  those  who  participate  in  them  to  be  well-instructed.  But  at  present  I 
must  go  to  Lebadea,  for  I  have  never  yet  conversed  with  Trophonius,  al¬ 
though  I  once  went  to  his  temple.”  Thereupon  he  went  into  Boeotia,  leaving 
none  of  his  admirers  behind  him.  At  Lebadea  there  is  a  cavern  sacred  to 
Trophonius,  the  son  of  Apollo,  to  which  none  are  admitted  except  seekers 


240 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


after  oracles.  The  cavern  is  not  found  in  the  temple,  but  in  the  hillside  a 
little  higher  up.  It  is  enclosed  with  iron  pickets  set  in  a  circle,  and  the 
only  way  to  descend  into  it  is  to  sit  on  the  edge  and  slide  down.  Pilgrims 
to  it  go  there  dressed  in  white,  and  carrying  honey  cakes  in  their  hands 
as  peace-offerings  to  the  serpents  which  crawl  up  to  visitors.  The  serpents 
come  up  out  of  the  ground,  some  not  far  from  the  cave,  but  others  emerge 
a  long  way  off,  even  further  than  Locri  and  Phocis,  though  most  of  them 
remain  within  the  limits  of  Boeotia. 

On  entering  the  temple  Apollonius  said :  ‘T  would  like  to  descend 
into  the  cavern,  to  consult  the  god  concerning  philosophy.”  The  priests 
refused  permission,  telling  their  worshippers  that  they  never  would  let  a 
sorcerer  explore  the  holy  place;  but  to  the  Master  himself  they  made  the 
excuse  that  those  were  unlucky  and  inauspicious  days.  So  during  that  day 
Apollonius  discoursed  at  the  springs  of  Hercyne,  concerning  the  origin 
of  the  oracle,  and  its  method ;  for  it  is  the  only  oracle  which  gives  its 
responses  directly  to  the  person  consulting  it.  But  after  dark  he  went  to 
the  cavern  with  his  escort  of  young  men,  and  after  pulling  up  four  of  the 
pickets  which  barred  the  entrance  he  descended  into  it,  wearing  a  cloak 
as  if  going  to  a  disputation.  Trophonius  enjoyed  this  visit  so  much  that 
he  appeared  to  his  priests  and  sternly  rebuked  them  for  treating  the 
Master  as  they  had  done ;  and  he  ordered  them  all  to  follow  Apollonius  to 
Aulis,  promising  that  he  himself  would  there  come  up  from  the  earth,  to 
the  greatest  wonder  of  men.  On  the  seventh  day  thereafter  Trophonius 
did  come  up  out  of  the  ground  at  Aulis  after  a  longer  delay  than  any 
visitor  to  the  oracle  had  ever  experienced,  and  holding  a  scroll  which 
answered  most  appropriately  the  question  which  Apollonius  had  asked 
him.  When  he  descended  into  the  cavern  Apollonius  had  asked :  ‘‘O 

Trophonius,  what  system  of  philosophy  do  you  consider  the  soundest  and 
purest?”  and  the  scroll  contained  the  precepts  of  Pythagoras,  showing  that 
the  oracle  agreed  with  that  philosophy. 

20. 

That  scroll  is  still  preserved  in  Antium,  a  seaside  city  of  Italy,  which 
is  held  in  great  respect  on  that  account.  I  admit  that  I  have  learned  the 
foregoing  facts  about  it  from  the  people  at  Lebadea ;  and  my  theory  about 
the  presence  of  the  scroll  at  Antium  is  that  it  was  brought  in  later  years  to 
the  emperor  Hadrian,  together  with  certain  letters  written  by  Apollonius, 
for  he  did  not  succeed  in  collecting  them  all,  and  that  it  was  left  by  that 
emperor  in  his  palace  at  Antium,  which  was  to  him  the  most  delightful 
of  Italian  palaces. 


BOOK  EIGHT 


241 


21. 

The  disciples  whom  the  Greeks  used  to  call  ‘'Apollonians”  came  to  the 
Master  out  of  Ionia,  and  when  reinforced  by  his  followers  among  native 
Greeks  they  formed  a  band  of  young  men  who  were  remarkable  both  for 
their  numbers  and  for  their  eager  thirst  for  philosophy.  They  neglected 
rhetoric,  giving  little  attention  to  professors  of  that  science,  which  merely 
trains  the  tongue,  but  they  all  crowded  to  hear  Apollonius  impart  his  wis¬ 
dom.  It  is  said  that  Gyges  and  Croesus  threw  open  the  doors  of  their 
treasure-vaults,  so  that  all  in  need  might  draw  therefrom,  and  in  the  same 
way  the  Master  allowed  every  seeker  to  partake  of  his  knowledge,  and  to 
question  him  on  every  subject. 

22. 

Some  blamed  him  for  avoiding  official  receptions,  and  for  preferring 
to  draw  his  audiences  away  into  sequestered  places.  One  said  jocularly 
that  he  drove  his  sheep  away,  whenever  he  heard  lawyers  coming,  to  which 
he  retorted :  ‘^Quite  so,  by  Zeus !  so  that  the  wolves  may  not  attack  the 
flock!”  Why  did  he  say  that?  Because  he  saw  lawyers  exerting  great 
influence  over  the  masses,  by  which  they  made  their  way  from  poverty  to 
riches,  and  fostered  enmities  because  they  were  their  stock-in-trade.  Where¬ 
fore  he  kept  his  young  men  out  of  their  company,  and  reproved  very 
sharply  any  who  consorted  with  them,  as  if  to  wash  the  foul  stain  away. 
He  always  had  a  poor  opinion  of  them,  but  in  the  prisons  of  Rome  he  con¬ 
ceived  such  a  hatred  of  the  legal  profession  from  his  sympathy  with  the 
wretches  chained  and  dying  there,  that  he  attributed  their  woes  to  in¬ 
formers  and  to  conceited  lawyers,  rather  than  to  the  tyrant  himself. 

23. 

One  day  when  he  was  lecturing  on  philosophy  in  Greece  a  portent 
appeared  in  the  sky,  a  ring  (stephanus)  like  a  rainbow  which  surrounded 
the  sun  and  dimmed  its  light.  Everyone  was  convinced  that  this  phenome¬ 
non  was  ominous  of  a  change  in  the  government,  and  for  that  reason  the 
proconsul  of  Greece  summoned  Apollonius  into  Boeotia  from  Athens,  and 
said  to  him:  “Apollonius,  I  hear  that  you  have  great  skill  in  all  matters 
concerning  the  gods.”  Apollonius  replied :  “If  so,  you  have  heard  too  that 
I  have  skill  in  the  affairs  of  men.”  “I  have  heard  that,  and  I  believe  it  to 
be  true,”  said  the  proconsul.  Apollonius  continued:  “Since  you  grant 
that,  my  knowledge  of  human  affairs  leads  me  to  advise  you  not  to  pry  too 
inquisitively  into  the  intentions  of  the  gods.”  The  proconsul  persisted  in 
urging  him  to  say  what  he  thought  of  the  portent,  and  expressed  his  own 
apprehensions  that  everything  would  be  turned  to  darkness,  to  which 
Apollonius  answered :  “Take  courage,  for  somehow  light  will  dawn  upon 
that  darkness.” 


242 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


24. 

After  spending  two  years  in  Greece  he  thought  that  he  had  been  there 
long  enough,  and  he  sailed  to  Ionia  with  his  disciples.  In  Asia  he  dis¬ 
coursed  for  the  most  part  in  Smyrna  and  Ephesus,  although  he  also  visited 
other  cities,  in  none  of  which  was  he  thought  unwelcome,  but  deserving  to 
be  missed,  and  a  great  benefit  to  right-thinking  men. 

25. 

While  he  was  there  the  gods  were  casting  Domitian  down  from  the 
front  seat  of  the  world.  He  had  just  murdered  the  consular  Clemens,  to 
whom  he  had  given  his  sister  in  marriage,  and  on  the  third  or  fourth  day 
after  that  death  he  had  compelled  the  widow  to  follow  her  husband.  One 
of  her  freedmen,  Stephanus,  whose  name  was  pre-figured  by  the  portent 
above  mentioned,  became  so  exasperated  by  those  murders,  or  by  all  his 
cruelties  combined,  that  he  attacked  the  tyrant  in  the  same  spirit  as  had 
been  displayed  by  the  most  liberty-loving  Athenians.  Domitian  was  leaving 
the  court-room  one  day  when  Stephanus  came  to  him,  with  his  left  hand 
bound  in  splints  as  if  it  had  been  broken,  but  hidden  in  the  bandages  he 
had  a  dagger  lying  along  his  fore-arm.  He  said  to  the  emperor :  “I  must 
speak  to  you  in  private,  O  Emperor,  for  I  have  urgent  news  to  tell  you.” 
Thinking  that  such  information  required  immediate  attention,  the  tyrant 
led  the  way  into  the  banqueting  hall  where  public  business  was  transacted, 
and  there  Stephanus  said  to  him :  “Clemens  that  mortal  enemy  of  yours 
was  not  put  to  death  as  you  were  told,  but  he  is  living  in  a  hiding-place  I 
know  of,  where  he  is  organizing  a  conspiracy  against  you  The  emperor 
was  so  startled  by  this  unexpected  statement  that  he  uttered  a  loud  shout, 
and  Stephanus  availed  himself  of  his  agitation  to  draw  the  dagger  from 
his  bandaged  hand,  and  to  stab  him  in  the  thigh,  inflicting  a  wound  not 
in  the  right  place  to  cause  immediate  death,  but  not  misplaced  for  what 
followed.  Although,  wounded  the  emperor  was  vigorous  in  other  respects, 
and  not  yet  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  grappling  with  Stephanus  he 
threw  him  down  and  lay  on  him,  gouging  out  his  eyes,  and  pounding  his 
face  with  the  stand  of  a  gold  goblet  used  for  libations,  which  happened  to 
be  within  reach,  and  invoking  at  the  same  time  the  aid  of  Athene.  Per¬ 
ceiving  by  the  sounds  that  he  was  reduced  to  extremity  his  bodyguard 
crowded  in  and  killed  the  already  swooning  emperor. 

26. 

While  this  was  being  done  at  Rome  it  was  visible  to  Apollonius  in 
Ephesus.  He  was  lecturing  near  the  groves  of  the  gymnasium  a  little 
before  noon,  at  the  very  time  that  this  death  was  occurring  in  the  em¬ 
peror’s  palace.  It  was  first  noticed  that  he  lowered  his  voice  as  if 


BOOK  EIGHT 


243 


Startled ;  then  he  went  on  with  his  discourse,  but  less  forcibly  than  usual, 
as  if  his  attention  was  distracted  from  what  he  was  saying.  At  last  he 
stopped  short,  as  though  forgetting  what  he  had  to  say  and  he  gazed  fixedly 
at  the  ground  in  front  of  him  as  he  descended  three  or  four  steps  of  the 
platform,  crying:  “Smite  the  tyrant!  Smite  him!”  not  like  one  getting  a 
reflection  of  the  fact  from  some  mirror,  but  precisely  as  if  the  actual  scene 
was  passing  before  his  eyes,  and  he  fancied  himself  a  sharer  in  the  deed. 
All  Ephesus  was  astounded,  for  all  Ephesus  had  come  to  hear  him  speak ; 
but  he  pulled  himself  together,  like  a  man  who  had  watched  some  doubtful 
struggle  till  it  reached  its  end,  and  he  called  out :  “Be  of  good  cheer,  ye 
men  of  Ephesus!  for  the  tyrant  has  been  slain  today!  But  why  do  I  say 
today?  Just  now,  by  Athene!  just  now,  when  I  first  spoke,  after  my 
pause !”  The  Ephesians  thought  him  to  be  raving,  and  though  they  wished 
that  his  words  might  be  true,  they  feared  that  they  might  get  into  trouble 
by  listening  to  him.  He  went  on :  “No  wonder  that  you  do  not  believe  it 
so  soon,  for  even  in  Rome  they  do  not  all  know  it  yet — but  they  are  begin¬ 
ning  to — the  rumor  is  spreading — now  thousands  of  them  do  believe  it! 
Now  twice  as  many  jump  for  joy!  Now  more  than  twice  those !  and  more 
than  four  times  that!  and  now,  all  the  tribes  of  all  the  city!  The  message 
will  be  sent  here  too,  and  until  it  comes  let  your  sacrifices  of  gratitude  for 
the  event  be  delayed ;  but  as  for  me  I  will  worship  the  gods  now,  for  what  I 
have  seen.”  They  remained  incredulous  until  the  arrival  of  the  courier,  who 
confirmed  the  clairvoyance  of  the  Master  by  reporting  the  death  of  the 
tyrant,  and  the  day  and  hour  of  its  occurrence,  and  the  slayers  whom  the 
Master  had  cheered  on,  all  exactly  as  if  the  gods  had  revealed  every  par¬ 
ticular  to  him  while  he  was  lecturing. 

27. 

A  month  later  he  was  notified  by  a  letter  from  Nerva  that  he  had 
taken  over  the  Roman  Empire  by  the  procurement  of  the  gods  and  of 
Apollonius,  and  that  he  would  more  easily  retain  it  if  Apollonius  would 
come  to  him  as  his  adviser.  The  Master  wrote  him  in  reply  what  seemed  at 
the  time  to  be  a  dark  saying:  “O  Emperor,  we  shall  confer  with  one 
another  for  a  very  long  time,  where  we  shall  neither  rule  nor  be  ruled.”  He 
was  perhaps  aware  that  he  himself  would  be  shifted  from  among  men  very 
soon,  and  that  Nerva’s  reign  would  be  short,  for  it  lasted  indeed  only  one 
year  and  four  months,  though  renowned  for  the  highest  moderation. 

28. 

That  he  might  not  appear  lacking  in  consideration  for  so  good  a  friend 
and  prince,  Apollonius  soon  afterward  wrote  to  Nerva  a  letter  of  advice 
upon  the  art  of  government,  and  calling  Damis  he  said  to  him :  “I  need 
your  services  in  this  matter,  for  though  the  counsels  in  this  letter  are 


244 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


addressed  to  the  emperor,  they  are  written  in  so  enigmatical  a  style  that 
they  will  have  to  be  explained  to  him,  either  by  myself  in  person,  or  by 
you  acting  as  my  interpreter.”  Damis  says  that  he  discovered  when  it 
was  too  late  that  this  statement  was  only  a  pretext,  for  the  letter  was  very 
clearly  written  concerning  affairs  of  state,  and  might  as  well  have  been 
sent  by  any  other  messenger.  What  then  was  the  purpose  of  this  subter¬ 
fuge?  During  all  his  life  Apollonius  is  said  to  have  repeated  frequently 
this  maxim :  “Live  unobserved ;  but  if  that  is  impossible,  at  least  die 
unobserved.”  In  order  to  procure  Damis’  absence,  so  that  he  might  pass 
away  without  a  witness,  he  invented  the  necessity  of  his  taking  the  letter 
to  Rome.  Damis  says  that  he  himself  was  much  agitated  over  the  leave- 
taking,  although  he  had  no  inkling  of  what  would  happen ;  but  that  Apol¬ 
lonius,  who  knew  it  well,  said  none  of  those  things  to  him  which  men 
usually  say  at  parting  with  those  they  will  see  no  more,  he  seemed  to  be  so 
sure  that  he  would  live  forever ;  but  that  he  did  leave  with  him  this  last 
word :  “Keep  me  before  your  eyes,  Damis,  even  if  you  should  be  philoso¬ 
phizing  all  alone.” 

29. 

With  that  monition  end  the  memoranda  which  Damis  the  Assyrian 
has  left  us  concerning  Apollonius  of  Tyana.  Many  others  have  professed 
to  tell  how  he  died,  if  he  did  die,  but  nothing  of  it  is  told  by  Damis. 
Nevertheless  I  must  not  pass  over  those  accounts  in  silence,  for  his  end  is 
the  necessary  completion  of  my  biography.  Neither  has  Damis  told  us 
anything  of  the  Master’s  age,  and  some  traditions  say  that  he  reached 
eighty  years,  some  more  than  ninety,  and  others  far  more  than  a  hundred, 
and  that  he  aged  gradually  while  preserving  perfect  health  in  all  his  body, 
and  that  he  was  even  more  beautiful  as  an  old  man  than  he  had  been  in  his 
youth.  In  wrinkles  themselves  there  may  be  a  certain  attractiveness,  which 
notabty  bloomed  in  him,  as  is  proved  by  his  statues  in  his  temple  at  Tyana, 
and  by  those  orations  which  celebrate  the  old  age  of  Apollonius  as  more 
charming  than  the  youth  of  Alcibiades. 

30. 

Some  traditions  say  that  he  died  at  Ephesus  in  the  care  of  two  maid¬ 
servants,  for  his  freedmen  whom  I  mentioned  in  the  beginning  had  died 
before  that;  and  that  when  he  had  emancipated  one  of  these  women,  the 
other  had  upbraided  him  for  not  being  equally  kind  to  her ;  and  that 
Apollonius  had  said  to  her :  “On  the  contrary,  you  must  be  her  slave,  for 
only  so  can  good-fortune  come  to  you and  that  on  his  death  she  did 
become  the  slave  of  the  other  woman,  who  on  some  slight  provocation  sold 
her  to  a  slave-dealer,  from  whom  someone  bought  her  who  fell  in  love 
with  her,  and  married  her,  although  she  was  by  no  means  beautiful,  and 


BOOK  EIGHT 


245 


that  she  had  children  by  him.  Others  say  that  the  Master’s  end  came  at 
Lindus  in  Rhodes,  where  he  entered  the  temple  of  Athene,  and  there 
vanished  from  the  sight  of  men.  Another  account  tells  that  it  occurred  in 
Crete,  and  more  marvellously  than  in  the  Lindus  story.  It  tells  how  he 
was  lingering  in  Crete  more  reverenced  than  ever  before,  and  that  he  made 
his  way  at  dead  of  night  into  the  temple  at  Dictynna.  Dogs  are  kept  in  this 
temple  to  guard  the  treasures  deposited  there,  which  animals  the  Cretans 
think  a  match  for  bears  or  any  other  such  savage  beasts.  The  story  goes 
that  these  dogs  did  not  bark  at  his  coming,  but  fawned  upon  him  more  af¬ 
fectionately  than  upon  their  own  keepers ;  and  that  the  chief  priests  of  the 
temple  laid  hands  upon  him,  and  chained  him  as  a  sorcerer  and  robber, 
accusing  him  of  administering  some  narcotic  to  their  hounds ;  and  that  he 
freed  himself  from  his  chains  about  midnight,  and  after  calling  to  his 
captors,  like  one  who  had  nothing  to  conceal,  he  hastened  to  the  temple 
doors  which  flung  themselves  open  to  receive  him,  and  when  he  had  passed 
through  they  came  together  and  locked  themselves  again  behind  him, 
while  the  sound  of  girlish  voices  re-echoed  from  the  temple,  singing: 
“Come  from  earth !  Come  to  heaven !  Come !”  That  is  to  say :  “Ascend 
from  earth!” 

31. 

Even  after  that  he  continued  to  philosophize  upon  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  so  far  as  to  teach  that  this  doctrine  is  true,  but  he  did  not  permit 
inquisitiveness  concerning  so  stupendous  a  fact.  After  he  had  left  the  world 
of  men,  his  mutation  was  the  subject  of  much  speculation,  though  no  one 
ventured  to  express  a  doubt  of  his  immortality.  This  gave  rise  to  many 
discussions  concerning  the  soul,  at  Tyana  especially,  for  there  the  young 
men  were  entirely  devoted  to  philosophy,  and  one  disputatious  and  stub¬ 
born  youth  who  had  come  there  would  not  concede  that  the  soul  is  im¬ 
mortal,  saying:  “Sirs,  I  have  now  been  praying  to  Apollonius  constantly 
for  ten  months  past,  that  he  would  reveal  to  me  the  truth  about  the  soul, 
but  he  is  so  dead  that  he  has  not  shown  himself  to  me  for  all  my  prayers, 
nor  has  he  given  me  any  proof  of  his  own  immortality.”  After  speaking 
thus,  he  held  forth  again  on  the  same  subject  five  days  later,  and  then  fell 
asleep  where  he  sat,  while  his  companions  who  had  been  listening  to  him 
were  absorbed  in  their  books,  or  engaged  in  drawing  geometrical  figures 
on  the  ground.  Suddenly  he  leapt  wildly  to  his  feet,  half-awake  and  drip¬ 
ping  with  perspiration,  and  cried  out:  “You  have  convinced  me  now!” 
When  the  others  asked  what  had  befallen  him  he  exclaimed :  “Do  you  not 
see  Apollonius  the  Sage  standing  there,  listening  to  what  you  say,  and 
chanting  marvellous  words  about  the  soul  ?”  “Where  is  he  ?”  they  asked : 
“for  he  is  not  visible  to  us  anywhere,  although  we  long  for  a  sight  of  him 


246 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


more  than  for  the  wealth  of  all  mankind !”  Then  the  youth  said :  “It  would 
seem  that  he  has  manifested  himself  only  to  me,  because  of  my  lack  of 
faith.  Listen  then  to  his  divine  revelation : 

“  ‘Thy  soul  is  deathless,  and  not  thine  but  God’s ; 

After  the  body’s  death  it  leaps  from  it 

Like  race-horse  from  the  mark,  and  eagerly 

It  mingles  with  the  unsubstantial  air ; 

But  what  is  this  to  thee,  before  the  time? 

All  will  be  plain  when  thou  shalt  cease  to  breathe ; 

Why  seek  to  learn  while  yet  a  living  man  ?’  ” 

This  clear  revelation  has  been  set  by  Apollonius  over  the  hidden 
mysteries  of  the  soul,  in  order  to  so  resolve  our  doubts  that  we  may  go  on 
rejoicing,  and  aware  of  our  own  nature,  to  whatever  goal  the  Fates  may 
decree. 

I  do  not  remember  to  have  come  across  any  tomb  or  cenotaph  of  his, 
although  I  have  visited  nearly  every  part  of  the  world;  but  everywhere  I 
have  met  with  his  inspired  sayings.  A  temple  dedicated  to  him  has  been 
founded  at  Tyana  by  an  emperor  at  his  own  cost,  for  emperors  have  not 
grudged  such  honors  to  him  as  they  have  themselves  received. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES,  THINGS  AND  PLACES 

[Roman  Numerals  indicate  Books;  Arabic,  Chapters.] 


Abae :  a  city  of  Phocis,  having  an  oracle 
of  Apollo,  IV,  24. 

Abaris :  a  philosopher  who  was  said  to 
have  flown  from  Scythia  to  Athens, 
riding  on  a  broomstick,  VII,  10. 

Abdera :  a  city  of  Thrace,  home  of  De¬ 
mocritus,  VIII,  7. 

Abinna :  Libyan  promontory,  V,  1. 

Acarnania :  now  Carnia,  VII,  25. 

Acesines :  river  of  India  tributary  of  Hy- 
daspes  (now  Chinab),  II,  17. 

Achaea:  V,  18,  26;  VI,  35;  VII,  10; 
pro-consul  of,  VIII,  23 ;  tombs  of 
Achaeans  at  Troy,  IV,  11;  III,  19;  IV, 

13,  16;  VII,  36. 

Acharnae :  a  town  of  Attica,  IV,  21. 

Achelous :  river  in  ^tolia,  VII,  25,  26. 

Achilles :  III,  20 ;  interview  with  his 
ghost,  IV,  11,  12,  13,  15,  16;  cuts 
off  his  hair,  VII,  36;  tomb  at  Troy,  IV, 
23;  beauty.  III,  19;  his  shield,  II,  22. 

Acrisius :  King  in  Argos,  father  of 
Danae,  VIII,  7, 

Adonis :  Hall  of  Adonis,  in  imperial  pal¬ 
ace  at  Rome,  VII,  32. 

Adrastea':  (Nemesis),  I,  25;  governs 
transmigrations,  VIII,  7. 

Adriatic  sea,  IV,  24;  V,  11;  VIII,  15. 

^acidae :  descendants  of  uEacus,  espe¬ 
cially  Achilles,  V,  26. 

JEacus :  judge  in  Hades,  VH,  31. 

yEgae :  city  of  Cilicia  where  Apollonius 
was  educated,  I,  3,  7-13;  H,  14;  HI,  16. 

2Egaean  sea,  I,  24;  IV,  6,  24. 

^gina:  island,  IV,  25. 

yEgospotami :  city  in  Chersonese,  I,  2. 

E^lianus:  Nero’s  praetorian  prefect,  se¬ 
cret  friend  of  A,  VH,  16-20,  22,  28,  32, 
40 ;  earlier  friendship,  VH,  18. 

Eiolis :  opposite  Lesbos,  IV,  13,  16; 

music,  I,  30. 

Eiolus:  god  of  the  winds,  HI,  14;  VH, 

14. 

Eischines :  son  of  Lysanias,  Socratic  phi¬ 
losopher,  avaricious,  I,  35. 

Eischylus :  improvements  in  tragedy,  VI, 

11. 

Eisculapius :  son  of  Apollo,  receives  and 
transmits  his  medicines,  HI,  44;  ap¬ 
pears,  I,  7-13 ;  initiated  at  Athens, 
IV,  18;  sung  by  Sophocles,  HI,  17; 


temple  at  Eigae,  I,  17 ;  and  at  Crete,  IV, 
34;  and  Pergamum,  IV,  1,  18,  34. 

Eisop:  his  merits  as  fabulist',  V,  14;  ori¬ 
gin  of  his  talent,  V,  15,  16;  fable  of 
lion,  VH,  30. 

Eitna :  Mt.,  V,  14,  16. 

Africa :  deserts  a  refuge  for  philosophers 
under  Nero,  VH,  4. 

Agraulus :  temple  at  Athens,  IV,  21. 

Agrigentum :  city  of  Sicily,  now  Gir- 
genti;  I,  1;  VHI,  7. 

Ajax:  HI,  19;  his  tomb,  IV,  13;  painted 
by  Timomachus,  H,  22;  elephant  named 
for  him,  H,  24. 

Alcestis :  revived  by  Hercules,  IV,  45. 

Alcibiades:  VIII.  29. 

Alcinous :  king  of  Phaeacians,  IV,  20. 

Alcmaeon:  matricide,  IV,  38;  VH,  25. 

Alexander :  son  of  Philip,  I,  35 ;  captures 
Rock  of  Aornus,  H,  10;  did  not  climb 
Mt.  Nysa,  H,  9;  nor  conquer  Indian 
Sages,  H,  33 ;  fought'  with  Porus,  II, 
12,  20,  21,  42;  fleet  at  Patala,  III,  53; 
wished  to  rebuild  Thebes,  VH,  2,  3 ; 
Aristander  his  diviner,  VIII,  7 ;  statue 
at  Taxila,  H,  24;  historians  in  error, 
H,  9;  son  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  H,  43. 

Alexandria :  V,  24-26,  43. 

Aloeus :  his  sons  bind  Mars,  VH,  26. 

Alpheus :  river  of  Elis,  VHI,  15,  18. 

Amasis :  Egyptian  king,  V,  42. 

Amoebeus :  actor  imitated  by  Nero,  V,  7. 

Amphiaraus :  son  of  Oicles  and  father 
of  Alcmaeon,  VII,  25 ;  utters  oracles 
in  visions  at  Athens,  1 1,  37 ;  IV,  24. 

Amphictyons :  council  at  Pylae  in  charge 
of  Thessalians,  IV,  23. 

Amymone :  a  daughter  of  Danaus,  I,  25. 

Anaxagoras :  of  Clazomene ;  watches  on 
Mt.  Mimas,  H,  5;  spends  money  on 
sheep,  I,  13;  prophesies,  I,  2;  VHI,  7. 

Anchises :  loved  by  Venus,  VI,  40. 

Andromeda :  I,  25. 

Animals :  sacrificed  by  barbarians,  VHI, 
7 ;  and  by  Egyptians,  V,  21 ;  their  voices 
intelligible,  I,  20,  38;  HI,  9. 

Anthesteria :  feast  of  flowers  held  in 
honor  of  Bacchus  at  Athens  in  Febru¬ 
ary  and  March,  IV,  21. 

Antigone :  tragedy  written  by  Nero,  IV, 
39. 


248 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Antioch :  city  in  Syria,  I,  16,  17,  18,  31 ; 
luxurious.  III,  58;  riotous,  VI,  38. 

Antiochus :  Soter,  king  of  Syria,  I,  38. 

Antisthenes :  from  Paros,  descendant  of 
Priam,  Apollonius’  disciple,  IV,  12,  13, 
16. 

Antisthenes  :  follower  of  Socrates,  IV,  25. 

Antium :  city  of  Italy,  VIII,  12,  20;  fa¬ 
vorite  resort  of  Emperor  Hadrian, 
VIII,  20. 

Ants :  dig  gold  in  Ethiopia  and  guard  it, 

VI,  1,  2. 

Anytus :  an  accuser  of  Socrates,  VII, 
11,  13. 

Aornus :  rock  in  India  over  which  birds 
cannot  fly,  II,  10. 

Apes :  III,  50 ;  gather  pepper  for  In¬ 
dians,  III,  4. 

Aphrodite:  see  Venus.  . 

Apis :  Egyptian  deity.  III,  3. 

Apollo :  his  oxen,  V,  15 ;  stops  Orpheus’ 
oracles,  IV,  15 ;  temples  at  Amyclae,  III, 
14;  Antioch,  I,  16;  Delos,  VIII,  14; 
Delphi,  II,  43;  III,  42;  VI,  10,  11,  14, 
15;  VII,  14;  VIII,  7,  22;  Grynea,  IV, 
14;  Colophon  and  Branchidse,  IV,  1; 
god  of  eloquence,  IV,  38. 

Apollonius  of  Tyana:  his  birth,  family, 
and  youth,  I,  4  et  seq. ;  doings  at  Aspen- 
dus,  I,  15 ;  at  Antioch,  I,  16,  17 ;  at 
Nineveh,  I,  19;  in  Mesopotamia,  I,  20; 
in  Media,  I,  21-24;  at  Babylon,  I, 
25-41;  journey  over  Caucasus,  II,  1-5; 
through  India,  II,  6-17 ;  visit  with 
Phraotes,  II,  18-41 ;  journey  to  Sages 
from  Taxila,  II,  42-III,  9;  sojourn  with 
Sages,  III,  10-51 ;  return  by  Persian 
gulf  to  Babylon,  thence  to  Ionia,  III, 
52-58 ;  honored  in  Ionia,  IV,  1 ;  doings 
at  Ephesus,  IV,  2-4,  10;  at  Smyrna, 
IV,  5-9;  goes  to  Greece,  IV,  11;  do¬ 
ings  on  the  way,  IV,  11-16;  at  Athens, 
IV,  17-22 ;  in  Thessaly,  IV,  23 ;  in  tem¬ 
ples  of  Greece  on  Isthmus,  IV,  24;  at 
Corinth,  IV,  25,  26 ;  at'  Olympia,  IV, 
27-31;  at  Sparta,  IV,  31-33;  in  Crete, 
IV,  34;  in  Italy,  IV,  35-38;  at  Rome, 

IV,  39-46 ;  goes  to  Spain,  IV,  47 ;  do¬ 
ings  at  Cadiz,  V,  1-10;  in  Sicily,  V, 
11-17;  in  Greece,  V,  18-20;  at  Rhodes, 

V,  21-23;  at  Alexandria,  V,  24-42; 
journey  to  Ethiopia,  V,  43;  doings  in 
Ethiopia,  VI,  2-27 ;  return  to  Alexam 
dria,  VI^  28;  interviews  with  Titus,  VI, 
29-34;  other  travels,  and  doings  in 
them,  VI,  35-43 ;  opposes  Domitian, 

VII,  4-9 ;  being  summoned  goes  to 
Rome,  VII,  10-16;  interviews  there 
with  ^lianus,  VII,  16-20;  in  prison. 


VII,  21-30,  36-42;  interview  with 

Domitian,  VII,  31-34;  trial,  VIII,  1-7; 
acquitted,  returns  to  Greece,  VIII, 
10-15;  doings  at  Olympia,  VIII,  15-18; 
elsewhere  in  Greece,  VIII,  19-23;  in 
Asia  Minor,  VIII,  24-28;  his  death, 

VIII,  29,  30;  his  apparition,  VIII,  31. 
Generosity  to  brother  and  relatives :  I, 
13 ;  VIII,  7 ;  never  visited  Scythia,  T, 
13 ;  steersman  in  previous  existence,  III, 
23 ;  what  he  did  then.  III,  24 ;  VI,  21 ; 
despises  wealth,  VIII,  7 ;  friend  of 
Scopelianus,  I,  23,  24;  his  disciples,  I, 
18;  IV,  11,  12,  25,  37,  47;  V,  21,  43; 
VIII,  21,  22;  mode  of  life,  I,  8;  VIII, 
7 ;  silent  five  years,  I,  14,  15 ;  his  philos¬ 
ophy,  VI,  16;  follower  of  Pythagoras, 
I,  32;  IV,  16;  VII,  11;  VIII,  7;  more 
divine,  I,  2;  style  of  discourse,  I,  10; 
predictions,  IV,  4,  6,  18,  24,  34,  43 ;  VII, 
12,  18,  19,  30,  37;  VI,  3,  13;  VII,  9,  10, 
41 ;  VIII,  23,  26,  31 ;  raises  the  dead, 

IV,  45;  supernatural  knowledge,  I,  10, 
12,  22,  39;  II,  23,  24;  IV,  3,  4,  6,  10,  11, 
12,  16,  20,  34;  V,  5,  10,  11,  24,  30,  42; 
VI,  3,  5,  39,  41 ;  VII,  10,  38,  41 ;  VIII, 
23,  27 ;  knew  languages  without  learn¬ 
ing  them,  I,  19 ;  understood  language  of 
animals,  I,  20 ;  IV,  3 ;  V,  42 ;  inter¬ 
preted  dreams,  I,  23 ;  IV,  34 ;  instan¬ 
taneous  transit  from  Smyrna  to  Ephe¬ 
sus,  IV,  10;  from  Rome  to  Puteoli, 
VIII,  10,  12;  commands  demons,  IV, 
10,  20,  25;  II,  4;  VI,  43;  turns  writ¬ 
ings  blank,  I'V,  44;  could  not  be  con¬ 
fined  against  his  will,  IV,  44 ;  VI, 
27;  VII,  35,  38;  VIII,  5,  13;  im¬ 
pressed  strangers,  I,  21,  28,  31;  IV,  1, 

V,  24;  VII,  31,  32;  his  books  on  sacri¬ 
fices,  III,  41;  IV,  19;  on  astrology.  III, 
41 ;  his  letters,  I,  2,  3,  7,  23,  24,  32;  HI. 
51 ;  IV,  5,  22,  26,  27,  46 ;  V,  2,  10,  39,  40, 
41 ;  VI,  27,  29,  31,  33 ;  VII,  8,  31,  35,  42 ; 
VIII,  20,  27,  28;  hymn  to  memory,  I, 
14;  addresses  to  the  Egyptians,  III,  15; 
last  will,  I,  3 ;  VII,  35 ;  defense  prepared 
for  trial  before  Domitian,  III,  18 ;  VIII, 
7,  8 ;  mode  of  speaking,  I,  17 ;  III,  36 ; 
VIII,  6;  his  statues  and  temple,  VIII, 
59;  I,  5;  prayers,  IV,  40;  I,  11;  de¬ 
clared  soul  immortal,  VIII,  31. 
Conversations :  with  .^lianus  at  Rome 
on  preparing  his  defense,  VII,  18-20; 
with  an  Assyrian  youth  on  care  of 
health,  I,  9;  with  Vardanes  on  mode  of 
sacrifice,  I,  31 ;  on  plan  of  travel,  I,  32; 
on  gifts,  I,  36,  41 ;  of  the  eunuch’s  pun¬ 
ishment',  I,  37 ;  on  mode  of  strengthen¬ 
ing  his  power,  I,  38;  on  marvels,  judg¬ 
ing  and  treasures,  I,  39 ;  on  travelling,  I, 
41 ;  with  Canus  at  Rhodes  on  flute-play¬ 
ing,  V,  21 ;  in  prison,  on  riches,  VII, 


INDEX 


249 


23;  on  Athene,  VII,  24;  on  his  de¬ 
fense,  VII,  28;  with  prefect  of  Cilicia, 
I,  12;  with  Damis  (see  Damis),  with 
Demetrius  at  Puteoli,  that  philosopher 
should  not  fear  death,  VII,  11-14;  with 
disciples,  I,  18;  IV,  11,  23,  37;  with 
Domitian,  VII,  32-34;  with  Euxenus, 
on  choice  of  philosophy,  I,  7,  8 ;  with 
his  brother,  I,  13 ;  with  priest  at  Athens 
concerning  initiation,  IV,  18 ;  with  a 
treasure-seeker,  VI,  39;  with  the  man 
in  love  with  a  statue,  VI,  40;  with 
larchas  concerning  the  Brahmins,  III, 
16;  on  self-knowledge.  III,  18;  on 
larchas’  previous  existence,  III,  19-21 ; 
on  his  own.  III,  23,  24;  on  the  youth 
who  hated  philosophy.  III,  22 ;  concern¬ 
ing  justice.  III,  25;  concerning  the  In¬ 
dian  king.  III,  26,  30;  on  the  number 
of  the  Sages,  III,  30;  on  the  elements 
and  the  world,  III,  34,  35;  on  divina¬ 
tion,  III,  42;  on  wonders  of  India, 

III,  45-47 ;  with  Phraotes  on  philoso¬ 
phy,  II,  29,  30;  on  the  Greeks,  III,  29, 
30,  31 ;  with  Isagoras  on  national 
assemblies,  VIII,  18;  with  young  men 
on  the  Eleans,  IV,  29;  on  commerce, 

IV,  32;  on  riches  and  learning,  V,  22; 
on  voracity,  V,  23;  on  taste  for  study, 
VI,  36;  on  Athene,  VIII,  16;  with 
the  Spartans  on  reverence  for  gods, 
heroes,  and  men,  IV,  31 ;  with  Menippus 
on  his  bride,  IV,  25;  with  a  trader  on 
hypocrisy,  V,  20 ;  with  an  Arcadian  boy 
in  prison,  VII,  42;  with  Nilus,  VI, 
15-17 ;  with  Philolaus,  not  to  fear 
Nero’s  cruelty,  IV,  36;  with  Phraotes 
on  his  mode  of  life,  II,  25 ;  on  the  study 
of  philosophy  in  India,  II,  29,  30;  on 
Phraotes’  history,  II,  31,  32;  on  the 
Sages  of  India,  II,  33;  on  total  absti¬ 
nence,  II,  35-37;  on  judging,  II,  38,  39; 
of  the  journey  from  Taxila,  II,  40 ;  with 
the  proconsul  of  Achaia  on  the  portent, 
VIII,  23;  with  a  Babylonian  revenue- 
officer,  I,  20;  witk  a  priest  on  sacrifices, 
I,  10,  11;  how  true  sacrifice  is  offered, 

V,  25 ;  with  the  satrap  of  Media,  I,  21 ; 
with  the  Babylonian  gate-keepers,  I,  27 ; 
with  the  court-clerk,  VIII,  2;  with  a 
Syracusan  spy  in  prison,  VII,  36;  with 
Telesinus  on  philosophy,  IV,  20;  with 
Thespesio  on  philosophy,  VI,  10-12,  and 
on  slander,  VI,  13,  and  on  worship  of 
the  gods,  VI,  19,  and  on  Spartan  insti¬ 
tutions,  VI,  20,  and  on  justice,  VI,  21; 
with  Tigellinus  concerning  his  own 
knowledge,  IV,  44;  with  Timasion,  VI, 
3,  and  concerning  the  Memphian  homi¬ 
cide,  VI,  5;  with  Titus,  VI,  30-32  ;  with 
a  tribune,  VII,  21;  with  Vespasian, 
Euphrates,  and  Dion  on  the  empire,  V, 
28-37. 


His  discourses ;  at  Ephesus  on  com¬ 
munity  of  goods,  IV,  2;  at  Smyrna  on 
concord,  IV,  8 ;  concerning  his  interview 
with  the  ghost  of  Achilles,  IV,  16 ;  at 
Athens  on  correcting  the  Dionysia,  IV, 
21 ;  at  Olympia  on  Milo’s  statue,  IV,  28 ; 
on  the  virtues,  IV,  31;  that  tyrants 
should  not  be  feared,  IV,  38;  on  Nero’s 
shamelessness,  V,  7 ;  on  .T^sop,  V,  14, 
15 ;  on  volcanoes,  V,  16,  17 ;  at  Alexan¬ 
dria,  on  rioting,  V,  26 ;  on  Greek  money¬ 
making,  VI,  2;  on  Sardian  fables,  VI, 
37 ;  at  Smyrna  on  Necessity  and  Fate, 
VII,  9 ;  VIII,  7 ;  on  consoling  the 
wretched,  VII,  26;  at  Ephesus  on  the 
death  of  Domitian,  VIII,  26. 

Arabs :  pearl-fishing,  III,  57 ;  understand 
language  of  birds  and  animals,  I,  20,  38. 

Arcadians :  beautiful,  VIII,  7 ;  boy  al¬ 
leged  to  have  been  sacrificed,  VII,  11, 
20,  32;  VIII,  5,  7. 

Arcadia  :  description,  VIII,  7 ;  subdued  by 
Pelops,  III,  31. 

Archelaus :  king  of  Cappadocia,  I,  12. 

Archilochus  :  philosopher,  threw  away  his 
shield,  II,  7 ;  his  saying  on  patience, 
VII,  26. 

Archytas :  of  Tarentum,  a  Pythagorean, 

VI,  31. 

Arginusse :  islands  off  the  coast  of  Asia 
Minor,  where  the  Athenian  fleet  de¬ 
feated  the  Spartans  406  B.  C.,  IV,  32. 

Argolis :  subdued  by  Pelops,  III,  31;  cos¬ 
tume,  III,  25. 

Argos:  city  in  Argolis,  VI,  30;  VIII,  15. 

Aricia :  grove  near  Rome,  IV,  36 ;  V,  46. 

Aristander :  a  Lycian,  Alexander’s  divin¬ 
er,  VIII,  7. 

Aristides  :  of  Athens,  son  of  Lysimachus, 
just,  VI,  21;  banished  on  that  account, 

VII,  21. 

Aristippus  :  of  Gyrene,  philosopher,  avari¬ 
cious,  I,  35. 

Aristogiton :  see  Harmodius. 

Aristotle :  saying  disapproved,  V,  36. 

Armenia :  11,2;  I,  19,  20,  38, 

Arsaces  :  a  king  of  Armenia,  II,  2. 

Art:  originates  in  adornment,  VII,  11,  17, 
18;  all  arts  practiced  for  gain,  VIII,  7, 

Artaphernes :  besieged  Eretria,  I,  25. 

Artaxerxes :  Mnemon,  son  of  Darius,  I, 
28. 

Artaxerxes :  son  of  Xerxes,  I,  29. 

Artemisia :  queen  of  Caria  accompanied 
Xerxes,  IV,  22, 

Asbama :  pool  near  Tyana  sacred  to 
Zeus,  I,  6. 


250 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Asclepiadae :  physicians  taught  by  ^Escu- 
lapius,  III,  41 ;  their  visits,  VI,  35. 

Aspendus :  city  of  Pamphylia,  famine,  I, 
15. 

Asses:  wild  in  India,  III,  2;  in  Ethiopia, 

VI,  24. 

Assyrians :  plant  indoor  gardens,  VII, 
32;  legends,  I,  16. 

Astyages  :  the  Mede,  VIII,  7. 

Athene:  (Minerva)  her  aegis,  VIII,  7; 
gives  birth  to  dragon  for  Athenians, 

VII,  24;  removes  mist  from  Diomedes’ 
eyes,  VII,  32;  claimed  as  mother  by 
Domitian,  VII,  24;  favors  Hercules, 

VIII,  7;  born  of  Zeus,  VI,  19;  guardian 
of  Athens,  III,  14;  IV,  22;  foreseeing, 
II,  43;  her  statues,  VI,  19;  her  temple 
at  Lindus,  VIII,  30. 

Athens :  badly  built,  II,  23 ;  crowded  at 
season  of  Mysteries,  IV,  17 ;  philoso¬ 
phers  sun  themselves  naked  there,  IV, 
17;  VI,  6;  burnt  by  Xerxes,  I,  25; 
Acropolis,  III,  13;  IV,  17,  22;  altars  of 
the  unknown  gods,  VI,  3,  5 ;  gap  in 
pronaos  of  Parthenon  draws  in  birds, 
II,  10;  palace  porch,  IV,  20;  amphi¬ 
theatre  under  citadel,  IV,  22;  mild  cli¬ 
mate,  V,  6;  language,  I,  17. 

Athenians :  by  popular  vote  have  ^schy- 
lus’  plays  acted  again  after  his  death, 

VI,  11;  meet  Apollonius,  VIII,  15;  had 
degenerated,  VI,  21 ;  imitated  by  Gadi- 
tani,  V,  4;  fight  for  freedom  of  Greece, 

VII,  37 ;  fond  of  sacrifices,  IV,  19 ;  ef¬ 
feminate  dancing,  IV,  21 ;  flock  to 
amphitheatre,  IV,  21 ;  watch  gladiator 
shows  there,  IV,  22;  impose  excessive 
tribute  on  allies,  VI,  20,  22 ;  ruined 
thereby  (id). 

Athletes :  rely  on  sorcery  for  success, 
VII,  39. 

Athos :  Mt,  I,  25 ;  II,  5 ;  IV,  40. 

Atlas :  Mt.,  II,  13. 

Atridae :  V,  26. 

Augeas :  king  of  Elis,  VIII,  7. 

Augustus :  emperor,  V,  7,  21. 

Aulis  :  city  of  Boeotia,  III,  6 ;  VIII,  19. 

Aurora :  mother  of  Memnon,  VI,  4. 

Babylon :  described,  I,  23-40 ;  region 
abounds  in  wormwood,  I,  21. 

Bacchus :  repulsed  by  Indian  Sages,  II, 
32 ;  III,  13 ;  Assyrian,  II,  9 ;  Bacchus, 
son  of  the  river  Indus,  II,  9 ;  temples 
at  Limnae,  III,  14;  at  Nysa,  II,  2,  7-9; 
controversies  concerning  his  identity, 
II,  9 ;  Theban  Bacchus,  son  of  Zeus  and 
Semele,  II,  9. 

Bactra :  city  on  Oxus  river,  now  Balka, 

V,  33. 


Barking  men  in  Ethiopia,  VI,  1,  2. 

Beans :  Indian  compared  with  Egyptian, 
III,  5. 

Bears:  care  for  their  young,  II,  14; 
hunted  at  Babylon,  I,  37. 

Black  sea:  II,  2;  III,  55. 

Baetica :  district  of  Spain,  V,  6;  very  fer¬ 
tile,  V,  9;  its  prefect  conspires  against 
Nero,  V,  10. 

Baetis :  river  in  Spain  near  Cadiz,  V,  6. 

Balara:  trading  station  on  Persian  gulf, 
III,  56. 

Bassus :  a  vicious  Corinthian,  IV,  26. 

Biblus :  small  island  in  Persian  gulf,  III, 
53. 

Blest :  islands  of  the,  off  N.  W.  coast  of 
Africa,  V,  3. 

Boeotia:  VIII,  15,  19,  23. 

Boreas :  related  to  the  Athenians,  IV,  21. 
Brahmans  :  see  Sages  of  India. 

Buffalos :  boagroi,  or  wild  oxen,  in  text ; 
animals  of  Ethiopia,  VI,  24;  of  India, 

III,  50. 

Byssus :  “fine  linen,”  of  India,  made  from 
poplar-like  tree,  II,  20. 

Cabiri :  divinities  worshipped  in  Samo- 
thrace,  II,  43. 

Cadiz:  (Gadeira  in  text)  II,  33;  IV,  47; 
V,  1  et  seq.;  celebrates  death  joyfully, 
V,  4. 

Caducians :  barbarians  living  between 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  I,  19. 

Caius :  the  emperor,  “Caligula,”  V,  32. 
Calchas :  the  Seer  of  the  Iliad,  I,  22. 

Callicratidas :  commander  of  Athenian 
fleet  in  sea-fight  at  Arginusas  islands, 

IV,  32. 

Callisthenes  :  Olynthian,  philosopher,  slain 
by  Alexander,  VII,  2,  3. 

Calpe :  now  Gibraltar,  V,  1. 

Calumniators :  and  their  dupes,  VI,  13. 
Calypso:  VII,  10,  41;  VIIi;  11. 

Camels  :  white,  in  India,  II,  40 ;  racing,  II, 
6 ;  their  nature,  I,  41 ;  mode  of  travel, 

II,  1 ;  ridden  by  Apollonius,  II,  8,  17 ; 

III,  10,  50,  51;  V,  43;  VI,  4. 

Canus :  a  flute-player  at  Rhodes,  V,  21. 
Caphareus :  cape  in  Euboea,  I,  24. 
Capitol:  at  Rome,  V,  30;  VIII,  7. 
Cappadocia :  I,  4. 

Carians  :  I,  21 ;  II,  2 ;  fed  sheep  on  figs, 
III,  55 ;  doubtful  reputation  as  slaves, 

III,  25 ;  queen  with  Xerxes  expedition, 

IV,  21. 

Carmani :  coast  tribe  of  India,  III,  55. 


INDEX 


251 


Carthage:  IV,  32. 

Cassander :  of  Macedon,  I,  35. 

Castalian  fountain,  VI,  10. 

Catana :  Sicilian  city,  now  Catania,  V,  14. 

Cataracts :  of  Nile,  and  mountains  caus¬ 
ing  them  (Catadoupoi  in  text),  II,  18; 
III  20;  VI  1,  17,  23,  26,  27. 

Catarrh :  or  influenza,  epidemic  at  Rome, 
IV,  44. 

Caucasus  :  mountains,  I,  41 ;  II,  2-9,  18 ; 

III,  4,  16,  20. 

Celts:  V,  2,  3;  VII,  4;  VIII,  7. 
Cenchrese :  harbor  of  Corinth,  IV,  25. 
Cephisus :  river  in  Bceotia,  VI,  10. 

Ceres:  (Demeter),  V,  20. 

Chaeronea :  battle,  VII,  2,  3. 

Chaldsean  soothsayers  mercenary,  VI,  41. 
Charybdis  :  I,  34;  V,  11. 

Chios :  island,  V,  21 ;  shaken  by  earth¬ 
quake,  IV,  6. 

Chrysippus :  stoic  philosopher,  his  dis¬ 
ciples  at  TEgse,  I,  7. 

Cicadse :  locusts,  called  happy  by  Deme¬ 
trius,  VII,  11. 

Cicero:  villa  at  Puteoli,  VII,  11. 

Cilicia:  I,  8-15;  II,  2;  VI,  35;  wealthy 
Cilician,  VII,  23. 

Cinnamon:  in  India,  III,  4;  found  by 
means  of  goats,'  (id). 

Cissia :  region  in  Media,  described,  I,  24 ; 
inhabited  by  Eretrians,  I,  23. 

Cithseron :  Mt'.,  IV,  22. 

Clarus  :  city  in  Ionia  with  oracle  of  Apol¬ 
lo,  IV,  14. 

Claudius :  emperor,  V,  27,  29,  32. 

Clemens :  consular  slain  by  Domitian, 
VIII,  25. 

Clepsydra :  water-clock  used  at  trials, 
VIII,  2,  4,  6. 

Cloak:  Attic  (tribon)  worn  by  Apollo¬ 
nius,  II,  40;  charlatan’s  disguise,  IV, 
35  ;  philosophic  garb,  V,  38 ;  VI,  3  ;  VII, 
15. 

Clouds :  their  wonderful  forms,  II,  22. 
Clytiadae :  diviners,  V,  25. 

Cnidus :  city  of  Caria,  I,  34 ;  VI,  40. 
Cnossus :  city  of  Crete,  IV,  34. 

Coins :  of  India,  II,  7 ;  counterfeit,  II,  29. 
Colonus  :  a  deme  of  Attica  near  Athens, 

IV,  21. 

Colophon  :  in  Ionia,  with  oracle  of  Apollo, 
IV,  1. 

Colossus :  of  Rhodes,  V,  21. 

Colpites :  coast  tribe  of  India,  VI,  16. 


Conscience :  power  of,  VII,  14. 

Cophen :  river  in  India  (now  Cabool), 
tributary  of  Indus,  II,  6,  8,  9. 

Corcyraean  youth  healed  IV,  20. 

Corinth:  IV,  25,  26;  VII,  10;  VIII,  7,  15; 
gladiator  shows,  IV,  22. 

Cotys :  king  of  Thrace,  VII,  2,  3. 

Crates :  cynic  philosopher,  opposes  Al¬ 
exander,  VII,  2,  3 ;  throws  patrimony 
into  the  sea,  I,  13. 

Creon:  V,  7. 

Cresphontes :  V,  7. 

Crete :  IV,  34 ;  Apollonius  said  to  have 
died  there,  VIII,  30;  earthquake,  IV, 
34;  nurse  of  Zeus,  IV,  34. 

Crisaean :  bay  south  of  Phocis,  now  gulf 
of  Salona,  V,  18. 

Crocodiles:  of  Indus  and  Nile,  'II,  19; 
VI,  1. 

Croesus:  VI,  37;  VIII,  21. 

Crotona :  IV,  28. 

Ctesiphon:  in  Assyria,  I,  21. 

Cyclops :  attacked  by  Ulysses,  IV,  36 ; 

VI,  11. 

Cycnus  :  slain  by  Achilles,  IV,  11. 

Cydnus :  river  at  Tarsus,  I,  7 ;  VI,  43. 

Cydonia :  city  of  Crete,  IV,  34. 

Cyllene :  mountain  in  Arcadia,  VI,  20. 

Cyparissus :  an  Assyrian  youth,  I,  16. 

Cyprus:  III,  58;  VII,  12. 

Cyrus :  son  of  Darius,  I,  28 ;  had  Silanus 
as  diviner,  VIII,  7. 

Daedalus :  VI,  4. 

Damis :  of  Nineveh,  companion  of  Apol¬ 
lonius’  travels,  I,  19 ;  VII,  13 ;  de¬ 
scribes  them,  I,  3;  VIII,  29;  his  mem¬ 
oranda  entitled  “Droppings  from  the 
Manger”  (Ekphatnismata) ,  I,  19;  his 
learning,  I,  19;  offers  himself  as  com¬ 
panion,  I,  19 ;  admitted  by  the  Sages, 
III,  34;  jokes  with  them  on  his  pre¬ 
science,  III,  42;  shows  peevishness,  IV, 
15;  assists  Apollonius,  IV,  37,  38,  46; 
V,  13;  VI,  3,  5,  43;  frightened  by  cata¬ 
racts  VI,  26 ;  sole  companion  of  Apollo¬ 
nius  to  Rome,  VII,  10 ;  conversation  on 
length  of  stay  in  Babylon,  I,  22,  40 ; 
on  a  dream,  I,  23 ;  on  Damophyle,  I, 
30 ;  on  eunuchs,  I,  34 ;  on  accepting 
money,  I,  35 ;  on  study  of  the  gods,  II, 
5 ;  on  wine-drinking,  II,  7 ;  on  horses 
and  elephants,  II,  11,  15;  on  animals’ 
love  for  their  young,  II,  14;  on  painting 
and  imitation,  II,  22 ;  on  the  Isthmian 
canal,  V,  7 ;  on  dying  for  philosophy, 

VII,  11-15;  on  change  of  dress,  VII, 
15 ;  on  consoling  prisoners  ;  VII,  22 ;  on 


252 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Phraotes’  argument,  VII,  30 ;  on  a  de¬ 
crepit  office-seeker,  VII,  31;  on  Pytho, 

VII,  37 ;  on  the  approaching  trial,  VII, 
38;  with  Timasion  on  Euphrates,  VI, 
9 ;  with  Demetrius  and  Apollonius  on 
avoiding  trial,  VII,  11-13;  on  the  re¬ 
sult  of  trial,  VIII,  11-14;  purse-bearer, 

VIII,  17;  last  interview,  VIII,  28. 

Damophyle :  poetess  of  Pamphylia,  I,  30. 
Danaids :  VII,  7. 

Danube:  (Ister)  river  of  Scythia,  VIII, 
7 ;  not  easily  crossed,  VII,  26 ;  greatest 
river  in  Europe,  III,  1. 

Daphne :  daughter  of  Ladon,  I,  16 ;  myth 
transferred  from  Arcadia  to  Antioch, 
I,  16. 

Daridaeus :  I,  24. 

Darius  Hystaspis,  I,  23,  35. 

Darius  :  Nothus,  I,  28. 

Darius  III :  II,  21,  42. 

Datis :  uprooting  Naxos  from  the  sea, 
I,  25,  36. 

Delphi :  inscribed  disc  there,  II,  9 ;  mu¬ 
sical  contests  at  Pythian  games,  IV, 
39;  V,  7;  VI,  10,  11,  14;  inscription, 

VII,  14;  temple,  IV,  24;  III,  43. 

Delta;  of  the  Nile,  VII,  22. 

Demetrius :  Cynic  philosopher,  associate 
of  Apollonius,  IV,  25 ;  assails  Nero,  IV, 
42;  VII,  16;  banished  from  Rome,  IV, 
42;  V,  19;  commended  to  Titus,  VI,  31, 
33 ;  at  Puteoli  with  Apollonius,  VII, 
10-15,  41,  42;  VIII,  10-14. 

Democritus :  frees  Abdera  from  plague, 

VIII,  7 ;  visits  the  Magi,  I,  2 ;  laughing 
philosopher,  VIII,  7. 

Demons  and  demoniac  possession :  III, 
56;  IV,  10;  III,  38;  IV,  20,  25;  at 
sources  of  Nile,  VI,  26. 

Demosthenes :  honored  for  confuting  Py¬ 
tho,  VII,  37. 

Diana :  Pergsean  Artemis,  I,  30 ;  Scy¬ 
thian,  VI,  20. 

Dicsearchia :  Italian  city,  now  Puteoli, 

VII,  10,  16,  41 ;  VIII,  10. 

Dictynna :  town  in  Crete  with  temple  to 
Artemis,  VIII,  30. 

Didyma,  oracle  at,  extols  Apollonius, 

IV,  1. 

Dion:  (Chrysostomus)  Egyptian  philoso¬ 
pher,  friend  of  Apollonius,  V,  37,  38; 

VIII,  7 ;  meets  Vespasian  at  Alexan¬ 
dria  V,  27,  28;  conferences  with  him, 

V,  31-38;  controversy  with  Apollonius, 
V,  34;  adjusted,  V,  38;  his  quality,  V, 
37,  38,  40. 

Dio :  a  Syracusan,  VII,  2. 


Diogenes :  rebukes  Philip  of  Macedon, 

VII,  2,  3. 

Diomedes :  Tydides,  Minerva  clears  his 
sight,  VII,  32. 

Diomedes :  of  Thrace,  his  mares,  V,  5. 

Dionysia :  feasts  in  honor  of  Bacchus  at 
Athens,  VI,  11,  20;  Anthesteria,  IV,  21. 

Dionysius :  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  .Tlschines 
goes  to  him,  I,  35;  slays  Phyto,  VII, 
2,3. 

Dioscorides  :  Egyptian  disciple  of  Apollo¬ 
nius,  IV,  11,  38;  V,  43. 

Dirce :  fountain  in  Boeotia,  III,  17. 

Diviners:  III,  42;  divination  a  science, 

VIII,  7. 

Dodona :  temple  at’,  IV,  24. 

Does:  white  does  milked  by  Indians, 

III,  9. 

Dogs:  Amphilochian,  VI,  42;  Molossian, 

IV,  10 ;  guard  temple  at  Dictynna,  VIII, 
30 ;  cure  of  rabies,  VI,  43. 

Domitian:  Emperor:  besieged  in  Capitol 
by  Vitellius,  V,  30;  VIII,  7 ;  assailed  by 
Apollonius,  VII,  4—9;  summons  Apollo¬ 
nius  to  Rome,  VII,  9;  trial  of  Apollo¬ 
nius  before  him,  IV,  44;  VIII,  1-8; 
Archon  of  Athens,  VIII,  16 ;  slays 
Clemens,  VIII,  25;  his  cruelty,  VII,  4; 
edict  against  vines  and  eunuchs,  VI,  42 ; 
love  for  Arcadian  boy,  VII,  42;  calls 
himself  son  of  Minerva,  VII,  24,  32; 
described,  VII,  28 ;  VIII,  16,  25 ;  exiles 
Nerva  and  his  associates,  VII,  8;  mar¬ 
ries  Julia,  VII,  7 ;  poisons  his  brother 
Titus,  VI,  32;  purifies  temple  of  Vesta, 

VII,  6;  slain,  VIII,  25. 

Dorians :  began  fashion  of  long  hair, 

VIII,  7. 

Dragons :  at  Aulis  and  Nemea,  I,  22;  III, 
6;  in  India,  II,  17;  III,  48;  how  hunted 
there.  III,  6-9. 

Dreams:  I,  5,  23,  29;  IV,  34;  VIII,  12, 
31 ;  their  interpreters,  II,  37. 

Eagles :  II,  3,  14;  I,  7. 

Eagle-stone  (setites)  protects  eagles’ 
nests,  II,  14. 

Earth :  sacrifices  and  prayers  to  it,  VI, 
39,  41. 

Earthquakes :  at  Antioch,  VI,  38 ;  at 
Crete,  IV,  34 ;  in  Hellespont,  VI,  41 ;  in 
Ionia,  IV,  6. 

Ecbatana :  of  the  Magi,  in  Persia,  I,  24 ; 
its  walls,  I,  39. 

Echinades :  islands  in  Ionian  sea,  VII,  25. 

Edoni :  tribe  of  Thrace,  VI,  11. 

Egypt:  II,  18;  VII,  16;  adjoins  Ethiopia, 
VI,  1  et  seq;  former  extent.  III,  20; 


INDEX 


253 


Helen  was  there,  IV,  16;  VII,  22;  sea- 
coast,  VI,  35 ;  divided  into  nomes,  V, 
27 ;  encouraged  by  Vespasian,  V,  28,  37 ; 
its  drugs,  VII,  22,  26;  barter  with  Ethi¬ 
opians,  VI,  2;  Egyptians  slander 
Greeks,  III,  32,  and  Indians,  VIII,  7 ; 
how  they  represent  their  gods,  VI,  19 ; 
trade  with  India,  III,  35 ;  oppose  Isth¬ 
mian  canal,  IV,  24;  mercenary  sooth¬ 
sayers,  VI,  41. 

Elephants :  of  Ethiopia,  VI,  25 ;  of  India 
and  Libya  compared,  II,  12;  Vl,  1;  ele¬ 
phant  Ajax  dedicated  to  the  Sun  by 
Alexander,  II,  12,  24;  whether  tusks 
are  horns,  II,  13 ;  sagacity,  II,  13,  15 ; 
long-lived,  II,  12,  13 ;  mutual  aid,  II, 
16;  ridden  by  Indians,  II,  6,  11,  21; 
hunted  and  eaten  in  Ethiopia,  VI,  25 ; 
nature  and  use,  II,  11,  12,  13;  swal¬ 
lowed  by  dragons  in  India,  III,  8;  and 
slain  by  griffins.  III,  48. 

Eleusinian:  Mysteries,  IV,  17,  18;  V,  19; 
VI,  20. 

Elis :  freed  from  plague  by  Hercules, 
VIII,  7 ;  Eleans  invite  Apollonius  to 
Olympic  games,  IV,  24 ;  meet  him, 
VHI,  15 ;  their  methods.  III,  30 ;  Olym¬ 
pic  games,  IV,  29 ;  V,  7,  43 ;  VI,  6. 

Empedocles :  apparently  Pythagorean,  I, 
1,  2;  method  of  expiation,  VI,  5;  so¬ 
journ  with  Magi,  I,  2;  dispersed  cloud¬ 
burst,  VIII,  7;  walked  singing  in  pur¬ 
ple,  VIII,  7. 

Empusa :  hobgoblin  assuming  various 
shapes,  H,  4;  IV,  25: 

Enceladus :  Titan  chained  under  ^tna, 
V,  16. 

Enodia :  Hecate,  IV,  13. 

Ephesus :  colonized  by  Athenians,  VIH, 
7 ;  worshipped  Apollonius,  IV,  1 ;  VII, 
21;  he  predicts  plague  there,  IV,  4; 
VH,  20;  VIII,  5,  7;  frees  the  city  from 
it,  IV,  10;  VII,  21;  VIII,  7;  discourses 
there,  IV,  2 ;  VIII,  24,  26 ;  said  to  have 
died  there,  VHI,  30 ;  celebrates  Dom- 
itian’s  wedding,  VH,  7 ;  play  acted,  VII, 
5 ;  qualities  of  citizens,  II,  5 ;  fond  of 
baths,  I,  16. 

Epicurean  philosophy :  I,  7. 

Epidauria :  feast  of  ^sculapius  at  Ath¬ 
ens,  IV,  18. 

Epitaph :  of  Eretrians,  I,  24. 

Eretria :  Greek  city  of  Euboea  taken  by 
Darius,  I,  25 ;  Eretrians  carried  into 
Media,  I,  23,  24;  Apollonius  aids  them, 
I,  24,  36. 

Erythia :  island  near  Cadiz  with  temple 
of  Hercules,  V,  4. 


Erythras  :  legendary  king  who  gave  name 
to  Erythraean  sea.  III,  35,  50. 

Erythraean  sea  (Rub rum  Mare)  includ¬ 
ed  Indian  ocean,  Persian  gulf,  and  Gulf 
of  Arabia,  II,  2.  14;  III,  4,  8,  20,  35, 
50,  52,  53,  57;  VI,  16. 

Ethiopia:  II,  18;  IV,  40;  V,  37;  de¬ 
scribed,  VI,  1 ;  ef  seq.,  its  animals,  VI, 
24 ;  barter  with  Egyptians,  VI,  2 ; 
tribes,  VI,  25,  27 ;  formerly  people  of 
India,  III,  20;  VI,  11,  12,  16;  very  long- 
lived,  VI,  4;  snow  not  possible  there, 

II,  18;  Ethiopian  sea,  VI,  25. 

Euboea :  dangerous  to  ships.  III,  23 ; 

IV,  15 ;  Eretrians  brought  from  there, 

I,  23,  24. 

Eudoxus :  philosopher  of  Cnidus,  goes 
to  Egypt,  I,  35. 

Eunuchs:  not  exempt  from  lust,  I,  34, 
37 ;  prohibited  by  Domitian,  VI,  42. 

Euphorbus  :  son  of  Panthus  at  Troy;  b}/ 
re-birth  became  Pythagoras,  I,  1 ;  III, 
19;  VIII,  7. 

Euphranor  :  celebrated  painter,  1 1,  20. 
Euphrates  :  river,  its  course,  I,  20 ;  mouth, 

III,  58;  tunnel  under  it  at  Babylon,  I, 
25,  38. 

Euphrates :  of  Tyre,  philosopher  in 
Egypt,  originally  friendly  with  Apol¬ 
lonius,  V,  27,  28 ;  discussion  before 
Vespasian,  V,  31-38;  controversy  with 
Apollonius,  I,  13 ;  V,  33 ;  develops 
hatred  and  plots  against  him,  V,  37,  38, 
39,  43;  VI,  7-9,  13,  28;  VH,  9,  14,  36; 
VIII,  3,  7;  mercenary,  V,  38;  VIII,  7; 
rebuked  therefor  by  Apollonius,  II,  26 ; 

V,  39;  VI,  13. 

Euripides :  Heraclidas,  II,  32 ;  Ino,  VII, 
5;  references,  IV,  21;  V,  14;  VII,  14; 

II,  14. 

Eurymedon :  river  of  Pamphylia,  I,  15. 

Eurystheus ;  orders  labors  of  Hercules, 
VIII,  7. 

Euterpe:  V,  21. 

Euthydemus :  rhetorician,  instructor  of 
Apollonius  at  Tarsus,  I,  7. 

Euxenus :  of  Pontus,  nominal  Pythago¬ 
rean,  instructor  of  Apollonius  at  JEgx, 
I,  7,  8,  14. 

Fables :  that  'trees  existed  before  the 
earth,  VI,  37;  about  giants,  V,  16;  of 
TEsop’s  skill,  V,  15;  fables  of  Greece 
in  Median  tapestry,  I,  25. 

Favorinus :  sophist,  IV,  25. 

Fates  (MoirjE,  Parcae)  :  IV,  1,  16;  V,  5, 
12;  VI,  21,  43;  VII,  8,  9,  12;  VHI, 
7,  31. 


254 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Fire :  used  for  divination,  I,  31 ;  V,  25 ; 
fire  of  pardon  in  India,  III,  14;  Sun- 
fire,  III,  14,  15. 

Flute-playing:  art  of,  V,  21. 

Forest-dwellers :  Hylobii,  a  name  for  In¬ 
dian  Sages,  I,  18. 

Funeral  orations,  IV,  45,  30. 

Furies  :  Erinnyes,  VII,  14. 

Gaetuli :  tribe  of  Africa,  V,  1. 

Galba :  Emperor,  V,  11,  13,  32. 

Ganges:  river,  II,  9,  21,  33;  III,  5,  20, 
47,  50. 

Ganges :  king  of  India,  son  of  Ganges 
river.  III,  20. 

Ganymede :  III,  27. 

Gaul :  refuge  of  philosophers  under 
Domitian,  VII,  4. 

Gazelles,  in  India  and  Ethiopia :  II,  28, 
33 ;  VI,  24. 

Geryon :  dwelt  in  Erythia,  V,  4,  5 ;  slain 
by  Hercules,  VI,  10 ;  trees  on  his  grave, 

V,  5. 

Getse :  VII,  3. 

Giants :  bones  found,  V,  16. 

Glaucus :  VI,  11. 

Gods :  wander  about,  IV,  40 ;  how  should 
be  worshipped,  I,  11,  16;  IV,  31;  V,  25; 

VI,  19;  just,  II,  39;  how  prayed  to, 
IV,  40 ;  altar  to  unknown  gods  at 
Athens,  VI,  3 ;  infernal  deities  send 
ghosts  to  mourners,  VIII,  12 ;  good 
men  to  be  reckoned  as  gods,  III,  18 ; 

VII,  32 ;  God  the  creator  of  the  uni¬ 
verse,  III,  35 ;  VIII,  7. 

Gorgon :  head,  VII,  20. 

Gortyna:  city  of  Crete,  IV,  34. 

Greece:  freed  by  Nero,  re-enslaved  by 
Vespasian,  V,  41 ;  Greeks  maligned  by 
Egyptians,  III,  32;  sculpture  of  gods, 
VI,  19;  love  of  liberty,  VIII,  7;  eager 
for  money,  VI,  2;  servile  to  Roman 
magistrates.  III,  25. 

Griffins :  in  India  dig  and  guard  gold, 
III,  48;  VI,  1,  2. 

Grynea :  city  of  ^Eolis  with  oracle  of 
Apollo,  IV,  14. 

Gyara :  island  in  ^gsean  sea  used  as 
place  of  exile  from  Rome,  VII,  16. 

Gyges:  of  Lydia,  his  ring.  III,  8;  wealth, 

VIII,  21. 

Gymnopsedia :  festival  at'  Sparta,  VI,  20, 

Gymnosophists :  “naked  philosophers”  of 
Ethiopia ;  wiser  than  Egyptians,  VI,  6 ; 
Apollonius  goes  to  them,  V,  37,  43 ;  his 
reception,  VI,  7-9;  debates  with  him. 


VI,  10-22;  esteemed  by  him,  VII,  36; 
miraculous  power,  VI,  10 ;  are  of  In¬ 
dian  origin.  III,  20;  VI,  11,  12,  16; 
taught  by  Indians,  VIII,  7 ;  duty  to 
purify  involuntary  homicides,  VI,  5 ; 
their  territory  devastated,  VI,  5 ;  make 
no  bloody  sacrifices,  VIII,  7 ;  their 
place  and  practices  described,  VI,  6. 

Hades:  HI,  35;  IV,  25;  VH,  31;  VHI, 
7,  12. 

Hadrian :  emperor,  especially  fond  of 
Antium,  VHI,  20;  collected  Apol¬ 
lonius’  letters  {id.). 

Harmodius  and  Aristogiton:  V,  34;  VH, 
4;  VHI,  16. 

Hector :  buried  in  underground  vault, 
IV,  11. 

Helen:  Achilles  went  to  Troy  on  her  ac¬ 
count,  HI,  20;  Stesichorus  writes  of 
her,  VI,  11 ;  not  at  Troy  but  in  Egypt, 

IV,  16;  VH,  22;  VHI,  7. 

Helias :  a  variety  of  poplar  tree,  V,  5. 

Helicon :  of  Cyzicus,  an  avaricious  phi¬ 
losopher,  I,  35. 

Helicon :  mountain,  IV,  24 ;  VH,  16. 
Hellespont :  bridged  by  Xerxes,  HI,  31 ; 

V,  7 ;  shaken  by  earthquake,  VI,  41. 

Heraclidse :  fought  for  by  Athens,  VH, 
2;  their  return,  H,  33. 

Heraclides.  and  Pytho :  slay  Cotys,  VH, 

2. 

Heraclitus :  philosopher,  I,  9. 

Hercules :  a  Theban,  H,  3,  33 ;  V,  4,  5 ; 
revives  Alcestis,  IV,  45 ;  averter  of  evil 
(Apotropseus,  Averruncus),  IV,  10; 
VIII,  7;  painted  by  Prodicus,  VI,  10, 
11 ;  set  up  pillars  at  boundary  of  earth, 

V,  1;  freed  Elis  from  plague,  VHI,  7; 
his  reward  from  Eurystheus,  VHI,  7 ; 
slew  Geryon  and  drove  his  oxen,  V,  4; 

VI,  10;  not  an  infernal  deity,  VHI,  7; 
his  labors,  V,  5;  VI,  10;  slew  Nessus, 
VI,  10 ;  founded  Olympic  games,  VI, 
10;  VIII,  18;  released  Prometheus,  II, 
3 ;  brought  Theseus  back  from  Hades, 
IV,  46 ;  voracious,  V,  23 ;  Egyptian 
Hercules  different,  H,  3,  33 ;  repulsed 
by  Indian  Sages  he  lost  his  shield,  HI, 
13 ;  worshipped  at  Cadiz,  V,  4,  5. 

Hercyne :  fountain  of  Boeotia,  VHI,  19. 

Herodes  :  Attic  sophist,  Meno  his  disciple, 
HI,  11. 

Himera :  town  of  Sicily,  where  Stesicho¬ 
rus  was  born,  VI,  11. 

Hippolytus :  son  of  Theseus,  unaffected 
by  love,  VI,  3,  5 ;  destroyed  by  curse 
of  Theseus,  VII,  42. 


INDEX 


255 


Hippopotami:  of  Indus  and  Nile,  II,  19; 
VI,  1. 

Hispalis :  city  of  Bsetica  in  Spain,  V,  9. 

Homer:  pretends  Helen  was  at  Troy,  IV, 
16;  neglects  Palamedes,  HI,  22;  exalts 
his  heroes,  IV,  16;  references  to  Iliad, 
I,  22;  HI,  6;  V,  26;  VII,  32;  VHI,  13; 
IV,  38;  VIII,  7;  I,  1;  H,  14;  VH,  14; 
HI,  27;  VI,  11;  II,  22;  VIH,  5,  8,  12; 
to  Odyssey,  1,4;  IV,  15,  25;  VI,  11,  31; 
VH,  22 ;  VHI,  7 ;  reference  generally, 
HI,  19;  IV,  7,  16. 

Horses:  of  Diomedes,  V,  5;  Nisaean,  I, 
31;  II,  12;  good  horsemanship,  II,  11; 
IV,  21. 

Hours :  nurse  youthful  Mercury,  V,  15. 

Hyacinthia :  feast  at  Sparta  in  honor  of 
Hyacinthus,  VI,  20. 

Hydraotes :  river,  tributary  to  Indus 
(now  Ravi),  II,  9,  17,  32,  43. 

Hymn :  of  Sophocles  to  ^sculapius,  HI, 
17 ;  sung  in  temple  of  Dictynna,  VIII, 
30. 

Hyphasis  :  river,  tributary  of  Indus  (now 
Sutlej),  II,  21,  30,  31,  33,  43;  III,  1, 
50,  52;  VHI,  7. 

Hyrcanians  :  V,  20. 

lamidae :  traditional  diviners  by  fire  in 
Elis,  V,  25. 

larchas :  chief  of  Indian  Sages,  H,  40, 
41;  HI,  16-49;  VI,  3;  VII,  14;  divine, 
VH,  32 ;  formerly  King  Ganges,  HI,  21. 

Ichthyophagi :  coast  tribe  of  India,  III, 
55. 

Ida :  mountain  in  Crete,  IV,  34. 

Image :  of  king  worshipped  on  entering 
Babvlon,  I,  27 ;  of  emperor  revered, 
I,  15. 

Imitation :  in  painting  and  sculpture,  H, 
22,  VI,  19. 

India :  H,  2,  6,  et  seq. ;  its  animals,  HI, 
50;  gems,  II,  40;  HI,  27,  46;  marvels, 
III,  45-49 ;  most  fertile  in  Ganges  val¬ 
ley,  III,  5;  coast,  VI,  16;  HI,  50-57 ; 
largest  country,  VI,  1 ;  king  foolish  and 
subject  to  Sages,  III,  26-33 ;  VI,  21 ; 
apes,  H,  10;  HI,  50;  dragons,  II,  17; 
HI,  6,  8;  elephants,  II,  12-16,  11,  6,  24, 

Indian  Sages:  Brahmins,  I,  2,  18;  II,  27, 
30,  31;  cure  the  sick,  HI,  38-40;  not 
conquered  by  Alexander,  H,  33 ;  eat  no 
animal  food,  VHI,  7;  wear  vegetable 
wool.  III,  15;  repulsed  Bacchus  and 
Hercules,  II,  33;  their  feasts.  III,  27; 
theory  of  universe.  III,  34,  35;  VIII, 
7;  speak  Greek,  II,  31;  HI,  12,  36; 
wiser  than  Gymnosophists,  VI,  6,  8,  10, 


II,  16,  18,  21;  dwell  on  hill,  H,  33; 

III,  10,  13,  14;  dreaded  by  Indians, 
HI,  10;  advise  king  on  state  affairs, 
HI,  32;  their  number.  III,  30;  shed  no 
blood  in  sacrifice,  VHI,  7 ;  their  temple, 
VI,  6;  mode  of  life,  HI,  15,  17;  wor¬ 
ship  the  Sun,  HI,  14,  15 ;  float  in  air 
during  worship,  III,  17 ;  marvellous 
mechanisms,  HI,  37 ;  command  of  nat¬ 
ural  laws ;  III,  12-17,  23-33,  38,  39. 

Indians :  discipline  of  young  philoso¬ 
phers,  II,  30;  art,  and  appearance,  II, 
22;  coinage,  H,  7;  sports  and  feasts, 
H,  28;  HI,  27;  nomadic  tribes,  H,  6; 
use  anchor  as  herald’s  insignia,  HI,  11 ; 
use  apes  to  gather  pepper,  II,  10;  hunt 
dragons,  HI,  6,  8 ;  milk  wild  white 
does,  HI,  9;  piebald  women  dedicated 
to  Venus,  HI,  3 ;  irrigate  farms’,  HI,  5  ; 
marvellous  productions.  III,  1,  2. 

Indus :  river,  II,  4,  9,  12,  14,  17,  18,  19, 
40;  III,  53;  VI,  1. 

Informers:  VI,  36,  39;  VH,  8,  23,  27,  36; 
VIII,  5,  7. 

Inscriptions :  on  altar  and  column  at 
Hyphasis,  H,  43 ;  on  column  at  Erythia, 
V,  5 ;  on  gold  disc  at  Delphi,  H,  9;  on 
leopard’s  collar,  II,  2;  on  elephant’s 
tusk,  H,  12,  16;  on  Eretrian  tomb  in 
Media,  I,  24. 

Island:  rose  from  ^gaean  sea  near 
Thera,  IV,  34. 

Ino :  see  Leucothea. 

lo :  daughter  of  Inachus,  statue  at  Nin¬ 
eveh,  I,  19. 

lolaus :  companion  of  Hercules,  VII,  10. 

Ionia:  HI,  58;  IV,  1,  et  seq.;  V,  20;  VI, 
35;  VH,  12,  36;  VIII,  3,  7,  21,  24; 
sends  legation  to  Domitian,  VI,  42. 

Iphitus:  king  of  Elis,  IV,  32;  VHI,  7. 

Isagoras :  a  Thessalian,  VIII,  18. 

Issus :  city  of  Cilicia,  where  Alexander 
defeated  the  Persians,  II,  42. 

Isthmian  games  at  Corinth,  V,  43 ;  Nero 
won  prize,  IV,  24;  address  to  athletes, 

V,  43. 

Isthmus :  of  Corinth,  VIII,  15 ;  Nero  at¬ 
tempts  canal,  IV,  24;  V,  7,  19. 

Ivory :  H,  13 ;  bartered  by  Ethiopians, 

VI,  2;  Phidias  statue  of  Zeus  at  Olym¬ 
pia  composed  of  ivory  and  gold,  VHI, 
18. 

Ixion :  rolled  on  wheel,  H,  35 ;  VI,  40 ; 
VH,  12. 

Jerusalem :  besieged  by  Vespasian,  V, 
27;  taken  by  Titus,  VI,  29,  34;  inhabi¬ 
tants  repulsive  to  Apollonius,  V,  27, 
33. 


256 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Juba :  Libyan  king,  writes  of  elephants, 
II,  13,  16. 

Julia:  daughter  of  Titus,  married  by  her 
uncle  Domitian,  VII,  7. 

Julia  Domna,  Empress,  wife  of  Sep- 
timius  Severus,  patroness  of  letters, 
I,  3. 

Juno:  Argive,  VI,  19;  Milo,  her  priest, 

IV,  28;  pomegranate  sacred  to  her  {id). 

Jupiter :  see  Zeus. 

Justice:  of  what  it  consists.  III,  25;  VI, 

21. 

Labyrinth:  in  Crete,  IV,  34. 

Lacedjemon :  see  Sparta. 

Ladon :  river  near  Antioch,  I,  16. 

Laius :  king  of  Thebes,  VIII,  7. 

Lamia :  a  ghoul,  IV,  25 ;  VIII,  7. 
Lamp-stone:  (lychnites)  shining  stone 
said  to  be  inserted  in  storks’  nests  to 
protect  nestlings,  II,  14. 

Lasthenes :  of  Apamea,  friend  of  Dion, 

V,  38. 

Lawyers :  (agoraioi)  detested  by  Apol¬ 
lonius,  VIII,  22. 

Lebadea :  city  of  Boeotia,  VIII,  19,  20. 

Lebena:  in  Crete,  with  temple  to  .T^scu- 
lapius,  IV,  34. 

Lechseum :  harbor  of  Corinth,  IV,  24 ; 

V,  18. 

Lemnos :  island,  satyr  appeared  there, 

VI,  27. 

Leonidas :  king  of  Sparta,  wore  long 
hair,  VIII,  7 ;  had  Megistias  as  di¬ 
viner,  VIII,  7 ;  his  tomb  at  Thermo¬ 
pylae,  IV,  23. 

Leontopolis :  city  of  Egypt,  V,  42. 

Lesbos:  island,  IV,  13,  16;  head  of  Or¬ 
pheus  brought  there,  IV,  14;  his  oracle, 

IV,  14. 

Leucadia :  island,  V,  18. 

Leucothea :  Ino,  daughter  of  Cadmus, 
made  a  sea-goddess  by  Neptune,  VII, 
22. 

Libya  :  partly  unexplored,  VI,  1 ;  Libyans 
visit  temple  at  Lebena,  IV,  34;  ele¬ 
phants,  II,  12,  13,  16 ;  VI,  1 ;  Geog¬ 
raphy,  V,  1,  3,  11. 

Lilybaeum :  city  in  Sicily,  now  Marsala, 

V,  11. 

Lindus :  in  Rhodes,  where  Apollonius  is 
said  to  have  vanished  in  the  temple  of 
Athene,  VIII,  30. 

Lions:  ^Esop’s  lion,  VII,  30;  tame  lion 
at  Alexandria,  V,  43 ;  lions  of  Ethiopia, 

VI,  24;  enemies  of  apes  in  India,  III, 


4;  nature  of  lionesses,  I,  22;  breed  with 
leopards,  II,  14 ;  hunted  at  Babylon  I, 
37 ;  eaten  in  India,  II,  6,  28 ;  plentiful 
there.  III,  50 ;  and  in  northwest  Africa, 
V,  1. 

Leopards:  love  their  young,  II,  14;  breed 
with  lionesses,  II,  14;  taken  in  Pam- 
phylia,  II,  2 ;  follow  scent  of  storax 
gum  great  distances,  II,  2 ;  eaten  in 
India,  II,  6;  hunted  at  Babylon  I,  37; 
plentiful  in  Ganges  plain.  III,  50,  and 
in  Ethiopia,  VI,  24. 

Letters :  Greek,  used  by  Median  Ere- 
trians,  I,  24 ;  unknown  characters  in 
Erythian  inscription,  V,  5 ;  letters  writ¬ 
ten  by  Apollonius;  see  Apollonius. 

Liver :  organ  used  for  divination,  VIII, 
7;  effect  of  fear  and  anger  on  it.  {id). 

Locri :  VIII,  19. 

Lotus-eaters:  I,  39;  goats  fond  of  lotus, 
III,  4. 

Lycurgus :  of  Sparta,  how  received  by 
Delphic  oracle,  VIII,  7 ;  his  laws,  IV, 
31,  32;  VI,  20,  21;  VIII,  7. 

Lydia:  VIII,  7;  gold  in  Lydia,  VI,  11, 
17 ;  chasms  there  draw  birds  down, 

II,  10;  costume,  V,  32. 

Macedonians :  praised  and  blamed  by 

Callisthenes,  VII,  2,  3 ;  in  India  with 
Alexander,  II,  9,  21. 

Maeander :  river  of  Phrygia,  VI,  26. 

Maeotis :  sea  of  Azof,  II,  2. 

Magi :  Sages  of  Babylon,  I,  2,  18,  25,  26, 
29,  32,  39,  40. 

Malea :  cape  at  S.  E.  extremity  of  Greece, 

III,  23;  IV,  24,  34;  VII,  42. 

Mars:  (Ares),  untaught,  VI,  11;  lyre 
softens  his  wrath,  VII,  12;  bound  in 
heaven  by  Vulcan  and  on  earth  by  sons 
of  Aloeus,  VII,  26. 

Marsyas :  river  of  Phrygia,  VI,  26. 

Martichoras :  fabulous  animal  described, 
III,  45;  not  found  in  India  {id). 

Massagetae :  inhospitable  people  near  the 
Oxus,  VIII,  7. 

Maturity :  age  of,  among  Greeks  and  In¬ 
dians,  II,  30;  at  Tyana,  I,  13. 

Maximus  :  of  ^gae,  wrote  on  Apollonius, 
I,  3,  12. 

Medes :  worship  tyranny,  VII,  14; 
trophies  in  Athens,  IV,  21 ;  sovereigns 
in  Babylon,  I,  21,  25 ;  Media,  II,  2. 

Medicines:  gift  of  divination.  III,  44; 
soporifics,  II,  36 ;  exhilarants,  VII,  22, 
26;  mandragora  for  insanity,  VIII,  7. 

Megabates :  brother  of  Babylonian  King 
Vardanes,  I,  131. 


INDEX 


257 


Megara :  city  on  Isthmus  of  Corinth, 
VIII,  15. 

Megistias :  diviner  of  Leonidas,  VIII,  7; 
his  bravery  at  Thermopylae,  IV,  23. 

Melampodidae :  a  family  of  diviners, 
legendary  descendants  of  Melampus,  V, 
25. 

Meles :  river  at  Smyrna,  VII,  8,  9. 

Meletus :  accuser  of  Socrates,  VII,  11,  13. 

Alelicertes :  Greek  equivalent  of  Phoeni¬ 
cian  Melkarth  worshipped  as  deity, 
III,  31. 

Melos :  island,  VIII,  7 ;  men  long-haired, 
III,  15. 

Memnon :  of  Ethiopia,  son  of  Aurora, 
VI,  4;  slain  by  Achilles,  IV,  11;  temple 
in  Ethiopia,  VI,  3,  4;  vocal  statue, 
VI,  4. 

Memory,  I,  14. 

Memphis :  in  Egypt,  VI,  3 ;  law  of  homi¬ 
cide,  VI,  5. 

Menestheus :  king  at  Athens,  worshipped 
at  Cadiz,  V,  4. 

Menippus  :  of  Lycia,  disciple  of  ^  Apol¬ 
lonius,  freed  by  him  from  lamia,  IV, 
25,  38,  39,  44;  V,  7,  14,  15,  43;  VI,  28. 

Meno:  foster-son  of  Herodes,  III,  11. 

Merchants:  use  sorcery,  VII,  39;  their 
calling  disgraceful,  IV,  32 ;  VI,  2. 

Mercury  (Hermes)  :  his  statues,  VI,  19; 
distributes  wisdom,  V,  15. 

Meroe :  in  Egypt,  III,  20;  VI,  1. 

Merus :  mountain  near  Nysa  in  India, 
II,  9. 

Mesopotamia,  I,  20. 

Messana:  in  Sicily,  now  Messina,  V,  11; 
VIII,  15. 

Messene:  in  Arcadia,  VII,  42. 

Metapontum :  city  in  Italy,  IV,  10. 

Methymna :  city  of  Lesbos,  IV,  13,  16. 

Midas :  captures  satyr,  VI,  27. 

Miletus :  shaken  by  earthquake,  IV,  6. 

Milo :  of  Crotona,  his  statue  at  Olympia 
explained,  IV,  28;  priest  of  Juno,  (id). 

Mimas :  mountain  cape  of  Ionia,  II,  5. 

Minerva:  see  Athene. 

Minos:  of  Crete,  very  cruel.  III,  25;  IV, 
34;  made  judge  in  Hades  by  Zeus, 
VHI,  7. 

Minotaur :  IV,  34. 

Mnesarchides :  of  Samos,  father  of  Py¬ 
thagoras,  VHI,  7. 

Moeragenes :  wrote  incorrectly  of  Apol¬ 
lonius,  I,  3 ;  HI,  41. 


Muses:  abode  on  Helicon,  IV,  24;  Nero’s 
Muses  worshipped,  IV,  39;  do  not  la¬ 
ment  Achilles,  IV,  16;  taught  locusts 
to  sing,  VH,  11. 

Musonius :  of  Babylon,  philosopher  im¬ 
prisoned  by  Nero,  IV,  35,  46;  exiled, 

VH,  16;  put  to  work  on  Isthmian 
canal,  V,  19;  letters  to  and  from  Apol¬ 
lonius,  IV,  46. 

Mycale :  cape  of  Caria,  and  mountain, 
H,  2,  5. 

Mysians :  VH,  2,  3. 

Mysteries:  at  Athens,  IV,  17,  18;  V,  19; 
Eleusinian,  VI,  20. 

Nasamones :  a  tribe  of  Ethiopia,  VI,  25. 

Naucratis :  city  of  Egypt,  VI,  3. 

Naxos:  island,  I,  25. 

Nearchus,  a  tyrant  of  Mysia,  VH,  2. 

Nearchus :  admiral  of  Alexander’s  fleet, 
H,  17;  HI,  53. 

Nemean  games:  celebrated  biennially  in 
Arcadia,  I,  34. 

Neptune:  (Poseidon),  the  Earthshaker, 
IV,  6;  VI,  41;  protector  (Asphalios), 
IV,  9. 

Nereids:  visit  Achilles’  tomb,  IV,  16;  ter¬ 
rible  demon.  III,  56. 

Nero:  emperor;  sings,  IV,  42;  V,  7,  10, 
19,  28;  VH,  4,  12;  his  songs,  IV,  39; 
attacked  by  influenza,  IV,  44;  con¬ 
spiracy  against  him,  V,  10;  spares  De¬ 
metrius,  IV,  42;  VH,  16;  nearly  struck 
by  lightning,  IV,  43;  frees  Greece,  V, 
41 ;  visits  Greece,  IV,  24,  47 ;  contends 
in  Greek  games,  IV,  24;  V,  7,  8; 
builds  gymnasium  at  Rome,  IV,  42 ;  de¬ 
throned,  V,  11;  begins  Isthmian  canal, 
IV,  24;  V,  7,  19;  matricide,  IV,  38;  per¬ 
secutes  philosophers,  IV,  35  et  seq.  47 ; 
his  barbarity,  V,  7,  10,  29,  32,  33 ;  VH, 
14;  his  tastes,  IV,  36;  V,  7;  tragedian, 
IV,  24,  38,  39 ;  V,  7 ;  poisons  guests, 

VI,  32 ;  avoided  by  Apollonius,  VHI,  7. 

Nerva  :  conspires  with  Apollonius  against 
Domitian,  VH,  8,  20,  32,  36;  exiled 
therefor,  VII,  8,  11;  Domitian  seeks 
pretext  to  execute  him,  VH,  9,  14,  18, 
32,  36;  VHI,  5;  becomes  emperor, 
VHI,  27;  description,  VH,  33;  VHI, 
7 ;  correspondence  with  Apollonius, 
VHI,  27,  28;  his  reign,  VIH,  27. 

Nessus :  centaur  slain  by  Hercules,  VI, 

10. 

Nestor:  loved  by  Achilles,  IV,  11. 

Negroes :  in  India  and  in  Ethiopia,  HI, 
11;  VI,  1,  2. 

Nile:  HI,  20;  V,  26,  37,  43;  VI.  3,  6,  9; 
its  cataract's,  VI,  23,  26 ;  divides  at  Del- 


258 


AP01.L0NIUS  OF  TYANA 


ta,  VII,  21;  said  to  be  joined  by  Eu¬ 
phrates,  I,  20 ;  its  sources  in  Ethiopia, 

VI,  17,  22,  26;  regulating  divinity  sta¬ 
tioned  there,  VI,  26 ;  compared  with 
Indus,  II,  18,  19 ;  VI,  1 ;  Phoenix  builds 
nest  at  sources,  III,  49;  its  delta,  VII, 
21. 

Nilus :  youngest  Gymnosophist,  VI,  10, 
12;  joins  Apollonius,  VI,  12-28;  his 
story,  VI,  16. 

Nineveh:  in  Assyria,  I,  3,  19;  II,  20; 
III,  58. 

Nireus :  III,  19. 

Nymphseum :  in  Ethiopia,  VI,  27 ;  near 
Puteoli,  VIII,  11. 

Nysa :  mountain  in  India,  II,  2,  7,  8,  9. 

Ocean :  bound  about  earth  like  chain, 

VII,  26;  reason  of  its  tides,  V,  2. 

CEdipus:  V,  7;  VII,  4. 

(Enomaus :  subject  for  tragedy,  V,  7. 
(Eta :  mountain  between  Thessaly  and 
^tolia,  IV,  23. 

Oil :  generates  unquenchable  fire  in  India, 
III,  1. 

Olympia :  city  of  Elis,  and  Olympic 
games  there,  I,  35;  III,  30;  IV,  7,  24, 
27-31;  V,  8,  26,  35,  43;  VI,  10;  VIII,  7; 
15-18;  address  to  athletes,  V,  43; 
games  postponed  by  Nero,  V,  7 ;  he 
wins  prizes  there,  IV,  24;  V,  7,  8. 

Olympus :  mountain,  II,  5 ;  IV,  23,  40 ; 

V,  15. 

Olynthus :  city  of  Macedonia,  I,  35. 

Onagers:  wild  asses  of  India,  III,  2;  of 
Ethiopia  (zebras),  VI,  24. 

Oracles:  VI,  10,  11,  14,  15;  VIII,  19. 
Orestes :  matricide,  IV,  38 ;  VII,  14. 

Orestia :  title  of  tragedy  composed  by 
Nero,  IV,  39. 

Orfitus :  a  Roman  consular,  conspirator 
with  Nerva,  VII,  8,  11;  description, 

VII,  33;  VIII,  7. 

Oritse :  “mountain-dwellers,”  a  tribe  of 
India,  III,  54. 

Orithyia :  loved  by  Boreas,  IV,  21. 

Orpheus:  shrine  on  Lesbos,  IV,  14;  loved 
by  Medes.  I,  25 ;  songs  revive  dead, 

VIII,  7;  poetry,  IV,  21. 

Orthagoras :  III,  53. 

Ostriches :  in  India,  III,  50 ;  in  Ethiopia, 

VI,  24. 

Otho :  Emperor,  V,  11,  13,  32. 

Owls :  eggs  cure  dipsomania.  III,  40. 

Oxydracse :  people  of  India  subdued  by 
Alexander,  II,  33. 


Ox-goats:  (butragus)  animal  of  Ethi¬ 
opia,  probably  gnus,  VI,  24. 

Pactolus :  river  of  Lydia,  brought  down 
gold,  VI,  37 ;  VIII,  7. 

Pain :  philosophic  mind  superior  to  it, 
VII,  36. 

Painting:  art  of,  II,  22;  done  in  various 
metals,  II,  20,  22,  25;  I,  25. 

Palsemon :  a  sea-deity  into  which  Meli- 
certes  was  transformed.  III,  31. 

Palamedes :  VI,  21 ;  Apollonius  replaces 
his  statue  by  Achilles’  direction,  IV, 
13,  16;  neglected  by  Homer,  III,  22; 
why,  IV,  16;  reborn  in  India,  III,  22; 
was  at  Troy,  IV,  16;  invented  writing, 
IV,  33 ;  hence  called  author  of  the 
Muses  and  of  Apollonius,  IV,  13 ; 
killed  by  Ulysses,  IV,  16. 

Palladium :  VII,  6. 

Pamphylia :  I,  15 ;  II,  2 ;  costume.  III, 
15;  VIII,  7;  stately  measure  of  hymns, 

I,  30. 

Panathenaea :  festivals  at  Athens  in  honor 
of  Athene,  IV,  22;  VII,  4;  VIII,  16. 

Pandora :  VI,  39. 

Panegyris :  translated  “national  assem¬ 
bly,”  any  general  gathering,  VIII,  18. 

Pangaeum :  mountain  in  Macedonia,  II,  5. 

Panionia :  festival  of  united  lonians  at 
Mycale,  IV,  5,  6. 

Pannonia :  Hungary,  VHI,  7. 

Pantarbes :  Indian  gem,  resembling  a 
magnet,  HI,  45,  46. 

Panthus :  Trojan,  father  of  Euphorbus, 
VHI,  7. 

Paphos :  city  of  Cyprus  with  temple  of 
Venus,  HI,  58. 

Paraca :  city  of  India,  HI,  9. 

Paris :  took  Helen  to  Egypt,  IV,  16. 

Parnassus :  mountain,  VI,  10. 

Parthenon :  H,  10. 

Patala :  city  of  India  at  mouth  of  Indus,  ‘ 
HI,  53. 

Patroclus :  mourned  by  Achilles,  VH, 
36;  buried  with  him,  IV,  16. 

Peacocks :  “sacred  birds,”  H,  10 ;  “Pseo- 
nian  birds,”  VHI,  7. 

Peacock-fish:  (taos)  found  in  Hyphasis 
river,  HI,  1. 

Pearls :  of  India,  HI,  53 ;  how  procured, 
III,  57. 

Pegades :  city  of  India,  HI,  54. 

Pegasus :  VH,  16. 

Peleus :  with  Thetis,  VI,  40. 


INDEX 


259 


Peloponnesus:  III,  31;  IV,  24;  V,  7,  19, 
36;  VIII,  7,  14,  15. 

Pelops :  subdued  Peloponnesus,  III,  31; 
like  figure  of  cup-bearer.  III,  27. 

Pepper :  trees  harvested  by  apes  in  India, 

III,  4. 

Pergamum :  city  of  Mysia  with  temple 
of  yEsculapius,  IV,  1,  18. 

Peripatetic  philosophers,  I,  7. 
Persephone:  VIII,  12. 

Persia,  and  the  Persians :  I,  19,  24,  33 ; 

IV,  21. 

Phsedimus  :  disciple  of  Apollonius,  IV,  11. 
Phaedra :  destroys  Hippolytus,  VI,  3. 
Phaestus :  city  of  Crete,  IV,  34. 

Phalerum :  western  harbor  of  Athens, 

IV,  17. 

Phario  :  Egyptian  rescued  by  Apollonius, 

V,  24. 

Pharos :  island  at  Alexandria,  III,  24. 
Phasis :  river  of  Colchis,  VIII,  7. 
Pheasants  :  “birds  from  Phasis,”  VIII,  7. 
Phidias :  the  sculptor,  IV,  7 ;  VI,  19. 
Philip :  of  Macedon,  son  of  Amyntas,  I, 
35 ;  rebuked  by  Diogenes,  VII,  2,  3 ; 
sends  Pytho  to  Athens,  VII,  37. 

Philiscus :  of  Melos,  philosopher  dear  to 
Apollonius,  VIII,  7. 

Philiscus :  Egyptian  slain  at  Memphis, 

VI,  5. 

Philitia :  at  Sparta,  translated  “meals  in 
common,”  IV,  27. 

Philolaus :  philosopher  expelled  from 
Rome  by  Nero,  IV,  36,  37. 

Philosophers :  how  they  should  act,  VII, 
12,  14;  dress  at  Athens,  IV,  17;  ban¬ 
ished  by  Nero,  IV,  35;  and  by  Domi- 
tian,  VII,  4;  compared  with  robbers, 
II,  29;  meditate  in  mountains,  II,  5; 
some  are  avaricious,  I,  35 ;  need  fear 
nothing,  IV,  38;  VII,  14,  21. 

Philosophy:  its  promises,  VI,  11. 

Philostratus :  Lemnius,  the  elder,  pf 
Athens,  writer  of  this  book,  tells  of  its 
sources,  I,  2,  3. 

Phocis :  its  people,  VIII,  15,  19. 

Phoenix:  lives  in  India,  III,  49;  goes  to 
Egypt  once'  in  fifty  years  {id). 

Phoenix :  esteemed  comrade  of  Achilles, 
IV,  11. 

Phoenicians :  III,  23 ;  IV,  25 ;  VI,  35,  39 ; 

VII,  12. 

Phraotes  :  king  of  India,  intercourse  with 
Apollonius,  II,  25-41;  III,  18,  50;  V, 
37;  VI,  14,  21;  VII,  30;  divine,  VII, 


32;  letter  to  larchas,  II,  41;  III,  26; 
very  wise.  III,  28;  VII,  14;  his  throne, 
II,  41 ;  III,  17 ;  his  mode  of  life,  II, 
26,  27 ;  his  history,  II,  31,  32. 

Phrygia  :  II,  10;  inhabitants  sell  their 
families  into  slavery,  VIII.  7. 

Phyle:  citadel  of  Attica,  VII,  4. 

Physiognomy:  II,  30. 

Phyto :  of  Rhegium,  philosopher  slain 
by  Dionysius,  VII,  2,  3;  avaricious, 
I,  35. 

Pigmies:  of  Ethiopia,  VI,  1,  2,  25;  of 
India,  III,  45,  47;  VI,  1. 

Pillars :  of  Hercules,  II,  33 ;  IV,  47 ;  V, 
1,  3,  5. 

Pindar:  VI,  26;  VII,  12. 

Piraeus :  principal  harbor  of  Athens,  IV, 
17;  V,  20. 

Pirates:  in  ^gaean  sea.  III,  24;  preva¬ 
lence  of  piracy,  II,  29. 

Pisa:  fountain  of  Elis,  VIII,  15. 

Piso :  adopted  by  Galba,  V,  32. 

Plato:  went  to  Egypt,  I,  2;  doctrine  of 
the  soul,  VI,  11;  of  the  universe,  VI, 
22 ;  went  to  Sicily,  I,  35 ;  VII,  2,  3 ; 
quotation,  IV,  36;  his  school  of  philos¬ 
ophy,  I,  7. 

Plethron :  Greek  standard  of  measure¬ 
ment,  approximately  101  English  feet, 
I,  25. 

Poets:  III,  6,  35;  IV,  16;  V,  14;  VI,  1; 
VII,  26;  corrupt  mankind.  III,  25;  V, 
14;  VI,  40. 

Polydamna :  wife  of  Thon  in  Egypt, 
VII,  22. 

Polygnotus :  painter,  II,  20;  VI,  11,  14. 

Polyphemus :  attacked  by  Ulysses,  VII, 
28. 

Polyxena :  IV,  16. 

Pomegranate:  tree  sacred  to  Juno,  IV, 
28. 

Porus :  king  of  India,  fought  with  Alex¬ 
ander,  II,  12,  42;  defeated  but  rein¬ 
stated  by  him,  II,  20;  warlike,  II,  26; 
his  words  and  appearance,  II,  21 ;  pic¬ 
tures  and  statue,  II,  22,  24. 

Praxiteles :  sculptor,  VI,  19. 

Priam :  received  kindly  by  Achilles,  IV, 
11;  but  his  descendants  disliked  by 
him,  IV,  12. 

Prodicus:  sculptor,  VI,  10,  11. 

Prometheus :  chained  on  Caucasus,  II,  3. 

Proteus:  Egyptian  deity,  I,  4;  III,  24; 
IV,  16;  VII,  22. 

Proverbs:  I,  8,  34;  II,  36;  IV,  25;  V,  7; 
VI,  11,  18. 


260 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Puteoli :  see  Diccuarchia. 

Pygmalion :  his  golden  olive-tree  at  Ery- 
thyia,  V,  5. 

Pylaea :  autumn  meeting  of  Amphictyonic 
council,  IV,  23. 

Pythagoras :  of  Samos ;  allows  enigmas, 
VI,  11 ;  saying  concerning  women,  1, 13  ; 
philosophy,  I,  1,  32;  III,  19;  VI,  11; 
VIII,  7;  confirmed  by  oracle,  VIII,  19; 
sojourned  with  Magi,  I,  2;  his  earlier 
existence,  I,  1;  III,  19;  VIII,  7;  ex¬ 
piations,  VI,  5 ;  silence,  VI,  20 ;  no 
bloody  sacrifice,  VIII,  7 ;  his  wisdom 
came  from  India,  VIII,  7 ;  simultane¬ 
ously  in  Thurii  and  Metapont'um,  IV, 
10;  Pythagorean  silence,  I,  1,  14,  16; 

VI,  11;  dress,  I,  32;  VII,  15;  VIII,  7, 
17 ;  report  of  Acesines  river  confirmed, 
II,  17;  believed  in  immortality,  IV,  16; 
philosophy  adopted  by  Apollonius,  IV, 
16;  VI,  11. 

Pythian :  games,  celebrated  every  four 
years  at  Delphi  in  honor  of  Pythian 
Apollo,  I,  35;  IV,  39;  V,  43;  VI,  10; 
Nero  contended  there,  IV,  24;  V,  7; 
won,  V,  9 ;  address  to  athletes,  V,  43. 

Pytho :  Byzantine  orator  sent  by  Philip 
to  Athens,  confuted  by  Demosthenes, 

VII,  37. 

Pytho,  with  Heraclides,  slew  Cotys  the 
Thracian  tyrant,  VII,  2. 

Rhea:  IV,  34. 

Rhegium :  now  Reggio,  in  Italy,  I,  34 ; 
VII,  2,  3. 

Rhine :  VIII,  7. 

Rhetoric :  study  neglected  by  Apollonius’ 
disciples,  VIII,  21. 

Rhodes :  visited,  V,  21,  22,  23. 

Rites :  of  Egyptians,  V,  25 ;  of  Indians, 
II,  19. 

Rome :  visited,  IV,  39-46 ;  again,  VII, 
10-VIII,  8;  magistrates  ignorant  of 
Greek,  V,  36;  Roman  names  frequent 
in  Ionia,  IV,  5 ;  Roman  envoys  exempt¬ 
ed  from  worshipping  king’s  image  at 
gate  of  Babylon,  I,  27. 

Rufus :  Roman  consular  conspired  with 
Nerva,  VII,  8,  11;  described,  VII,  32, 
33 ;  VIII,  7. 

Sabinus :  put  to  death  by  Domitian,  VII, 
7. 

Sais :  nome  of  Egypt,  V,  42. 

Salamis :  III,  31 ;  IV,  21. 

Salex :  river  of  N.  W.  Africa,  V,  1. 

Samothrace :  VI,  20. 

Samos :  island,  shaken  by  earthquake, 
IV,  6;  VIII,  7. 


Sappho :  I,  30. 

Sardis:  city  of  Lydia,  I,  11;  VI,  37. 

Sardinia :  VII,  12. 

Sarpedon :  son  of  Zeus  and  brother  of- 
Minos,  VIII,  7. 

Saturn :  bound  by  Zeus,  VII,  26. 

Satyrs :  in  Ethiopia,  VI,  27 ;  at  Lemnos, 

VI,  27 ;  captured  by  Midas,  VI,  27 ;  ac¬ 
companied  Bacchus  in  India,  III,  13. 

Scillus :  city  of  Elis,  VIII,  15. 

Scopelianus :  sophist  of  Clazomene, 
friend  of  Apollonius,  who  wrote  him 
letters,  I,  23,  24. 

Scylax :  wrote  false  reports  of  India, 
III,  47. 

‘Scythians :  V,  20;  VI,  20;  VII,  26; 
VIII,  7,  33;  invade  India,  III,  20; 
Scythia  a  desert,  VII,  4;  adjoins  India, 
II,  3 ;  not  visited,  I,  13. 

Seals :  affection  for  young,  II,  14. 

Sea-hare:  poisoned  Titus,  VI,  32;  used 
by  Nero  on  enemies  (id). 

Sea-urchin :  caused  Ulysses’  death,  VI, 
32. 

Selera :  island  in  Persian  gulf.  III,  56. 

Seleucia:  city  of  Cilicia,  III,  58. 

Seleucus :  of  Cyzicus,  physician  at  Rome, 
VIII,  7. 

Seleucus :  ruler  of  Babylonia,  died  280 
B.  C.,  I,  37. 

Self-knowledge:  difficult,  IV,  44;  VI,  35; 
beginning  of  wisdom.  III,  18. 

Semiramis :  I,  25. 

Serpent:  of  Aulis,  I,  22;  III,  6;  numer¬ 
ous  at  Trophonius’  cave  in  Bceotia, 
VIII,  19. 

Ships :  Egyptian,  III,  35  ;  VI,  16 ;  casting 
off  described,  IV,  9;  Etruscan,  III,  50; 
in  Persian  gulf  have  bells  to  drive 
away  sea-monsters.  III,  57. 

Sicily:  I,  34;  IV,  32;  V,  11,  18;  VII,  2, 
3,  10,  41 ;  VIII,  15 ;  torn  by  dissension, 
V,  13 ;  Sicilian  sea,  VII,  13 ;  VIII,  15. 

Silanus :  of  Ambracia,  diviner  for  Cyrus, 
VIII,  7. 

Silence:  a  virtue,  VIII,  2;  Pythagorean, 
see  Pythagoras. 

Simonides :  poet,  I,  14. 

Sirens:  VI,  11,  14. 

Slaves :  Carian,  III,  25 ;  Hyrcanian, 
Scythian,  V,  20;  Pontic,  Lydian,  Phry¬ 
gian,  VIII,  7 ;  relations  to  masters, 

VII,  42;  laws  of  Lycurgus  permit  kill¬ 
ing  them,  VI,  20. 


INDEX 


261 


Smyrna :  invites  Apollonius,  IV,  1 ;  he 
discourses  there,  IV,  5-10;  VII,  8; 

VIII,  24;  shaken  by  earthquake,  IV,  6; 
beautiful,  IV,  7. 

Socrates:  his  accusation,  VII,  11;  in¬ 
structor  of  Antisthenes,  IV,  25 ;  method 
of  swearing,  VI,  19;  just,  VI,  21;  re¬ 
fuses  rescue,  IV,  46;  VIII,  2;  not  dead, 
VIII,  2,  3;  prophesied,  I,  2;  VIII,  7; 
followers,  IV,  2. 

Solon :  Athenian  legislator,  VI,  21. 

Sophists :  their  art,  VII,  16. 

Sophocles :  paean  to  vEsculapius,  III,  17 ; 
laid  the  winds,  VIII,  7 ;  quotations,  I, 
13;  II,  23;  IV,  38;  VII,  4,  31;  VIII,  7. 

Sparta :  (Lacedaemon)  citizens  meet  Apol¬ 
lonius,  VIII,  15;  invite  him,  IV,  27; 
are  recalled  by  him  to  primitive  sim¬ 
plicity,  IV,  31 ;  defeat  Athenians,  VI, 
20,  21 ;  wear  hair  long.  III,  15 ;  VIII, 
7 ;  degenerate,  VI,  20 ;  use  scourges, 
VI,  20;  VII,  42;  freest  of  Greeks,  VI, 
20 ;  magistrates,  IV,  32 ;  devoted  to 
war-training,  IV,  8;  VI,  20;  original 
mode  of  life,  IV,  27,  32;  Spartan  danc¬ 
ing,  IV,  21 ;  city  without  walls,  I,  39 ; 
heroes  at  Thermopylae,  IV,  23 ;  answer 
Nero’s  letter,  IV,  33. 

Sperchius :  river  of  Thessaly  to  which 
Achilles  vowed  long  hair,  IV,  16. 

Speusippus :  Athenian  philosopher,  sings 
at  Cassander’s  wedding,  I,  34. 

Spice-trees:  II,  2;  III,  4;. VIII,  7. 

Springs :  of  oil,  bitumen  and  water,  min¬ 
gled,  in  Babylonia,  I,  23 ;  spring  fatal  to 
perjurers,  I,  6;  no  gold-bearing  spring 
in  India,  III,  45 ;  marvellous  springs  on 
Indian  Sages’  hill.  III,  14. 

Statuary  art :  antique,  V,  20 ;  VI,  4. 

Stephanus :  freedman  of  Clemens,  assas¬ 
sinated  Domitian,  VIII,  25 ;  name  fore¬ 
told  by  portent,  VIII,  23. 

Stesichorus  :  palinode  to  Helen,  VI,  11. 

Stobera :  city  of  India,  III,  55. 

Stoic  philosophers :  I,  7. 

Stoning:  to  death,  I,  16;  III,  22;  IV,  8, 
10;  V,  26. 

Storax  (or  styrax)  :  certain  fragrant 
gum,  II,  2. 

Storks :  II,  14. 

Stratocles  of  Pharos :  VI,  10. 

Stratocles :  of  Sidon,  physician  at  Rome, 
VIII,  7. 

Sun-worship :  at  Babylon,  I,  31 ;  at  Tax- 
ila,  II,  24,  26;  tigers  worship  Sun,  II, 
28;  Alexander  dedicates  elephant,  II, 
12,  24;  Indian  Sages  worship.  III,  14, 


15,  17,  33;  VI,  11;  obtain  sacred  fire 
from  it.  III,  14,  15 ;  Phraotes  swears  by 
Sun,  II,  31 ;  so  does  Apollonius,  VI,  32; 
VII,  6 ;  Indian  king  aspires  to  be  one 
with  Sun,  III,  23 ;  Memnon’s  statue 
worships,  IV,  4;  worship  by  Apollo¬ 
nius  daily,  I,  16,  31;  II,  38;  V,  30;  VI, 
4,  10,  18;  VII,  10,  31;  VIII,  13;  grif¬ 
fins  sacred  to  Sun,  III,  48;  Gymnoso- 
phists  worship,  VI,  14. 

Sunium:  cape  of  Attica,  III,  23. 

Susa:  in  Persia,  I,  18;  V,  33. 

Swans :  I,  5 ;  III,  49. 

Sycaminus :  between  Egypt  and  Ethiopia, 

VI,  2. 

Symbols  :  barbarians  represent  deities  by, 
II,  24;  VI,  19. 

Syracuse:  V,  13,  18;  VIII,  15;  VII,  36. 

Syria :  prefect  of,  I,  37 ;  VI,  38 ;  Syrians 
slavish,  VII,  14. 

Tanais:  river  of  Scythia,  now  the  Don, 

VII,  26. 

Tantalus:  IV,  25;  revered  by  Indian 
Sages  as  truest  friend,  III,  25 ;  his 
statue  and  cup.  III,  25,  32,  51 ;  VII,  14. 
Taormina  (Tauromenium)  :  VIII,  15. 
Tarentum :  in  Italy,  now  Taranto,  VII, 
8,  24;  Tarentines  wear  long  hair.  III, 
15. 

Tarsus :  in  Cilicia,  dissolute,  I,  7 ;  Apol¬ 
lonius  began  studies  there  (id.),  citi¬ 
zens  first  hated  Apollonius,  then  wor¬ 
shipped  him,  VI,  34,  43. 

Taurians :  inhospitable  tribe  of  Scythia, 

VI,  20;  VIII,  7. 

Taurus:  mountain  range  in  Asia,  I,  20; 
II,  2. 

Taxila :  chief  city  of  India,  II,  12,  20,  23, 
32,  42. 

Taygetus:  mountain  in  Laconia,  IV,  31. 

Telemachus:  son  of  Ulysses,  VI,  31. 

Telephus :  king  of  Mysia,  his  soul  enters 
boy,  VI,  43 

Telesinus :  consul  under  Nero,  friend  of 
Apollonius,  IV,  40,  43;  V,  7;  VIII,  12; 
banished  by  Domitian  as  philosopher, 

VII,  11;  VIII,  7. 

Telliadae:  a  famous  family  of  diviners, 
descended  from  Tellias  of  Elis,  V,  25. 

Terpnus :  apparently  a  popular  actor, 
imitated  by  Nero,  V,  7. 

Teucer:  his  golden  belt  at  Erythia,  V.  5. 

Thales :  of  Miletus,  watched  on  Mycale, 
II,  5;  prophesied,  VIII,  7. 

Thamos :  Egyptian  robber,  VI,  5. 


262 


APOLLONIUS  OF  TYANA 


Thebes:  in  Boeotia;  Alexander  offered  to 
rebuild,  VII,  2,  3. 

Themistocles :  visited  Persian  court,  I, 
29;  statue  at  Cadiz,  V,  4. 

Theophania :  festival  at  Delphi  when 
statues  of  Apollo  and  other  gods  were 
exhibited,  IV,  31. 

Thera  :  island  in  ^gsean  sea,  IV,  34. 

Thermodon :  river  of  Scythia,  now  Ter- 
meh,  VII,  26. 

Thermopylae  :  I,  25  ;  IV,  23. 

Theseus :  brought  back  from  Hades  by 
Hercules,  IV,  46;  cursed  Hippolvtus, 

VH,  42. 

Thespesio :  eldest  Gymnosophist  and 
their  spokesman,  VI,  10-22;  VH,  14. 

Thessalians:  Achilles  indignant,  IV,  16; 
sends  Apollonius  to  them,  IV,  12,  23 ; 
they  obey,  VHI,  15 ;  costume,  HI,  25 ; 
credulous  of  the  power  of  witches, 
VHI,  7. 

Thirty  tyrants :  at  Athens,  VH,  4. 

Thon,  in  Egypt,  VH,  22. 

Thracians  :  VH,  3  ;  IV,  14. 

Thrasybulus :  of  Naucratis,  disciple  of 
Euphrates,  VI,  7,  8,  9,  13. 

Thurians  :  wore  long  hair,  HI,  15  ;  IV,  10. 

Tiber:  VH,  16;  VHI,  2. 

Tiberius:  emperor;  cruel,  I,  15;  V,  32; 
sly,  VH,  14;  his  statues  revered,  I,  15. 

Tigellinus:  Nero’s  praetorian  prefect, 
hostile  to  Apollonius  and  subdued  by 
him,  IV,  42-44;  V,  35;  VH,  4. 

Tigers:  care  for  young,  H,  14;  worship 
rising  Sun,  H,  28;  Indians  eat  hind¬ 
quarters  (id.)  ;  many  seen  in  India,  HI, 
50 ;  swifter  than  griffins  HI,  48. 

Tigris  :  river,  I,  20,  21. 

Timasion  :  Egyptian  guide,  VI,  3-9,  22-26. 

Timomachus :  painter,  H,  22. 

Tingi:  African  tribe,  V,  1. 

Tiresias:  of  Sophocles,  VH,  4. 

Titus :  takes  Jerusalem,  correspondence 
with  Apollonius,  VI,  29;  VH,  8;  inter¬ 
views,  VI,  30-34;  his  death  foretold, 

VI,  32;  emperor,  VI,  30;  referred  to 
in  conference  with  Vespasian,  V,  35, 
36;  and  in  defense  before  Domitian, 
VHI,  7. 

Tmolus:  mountain  in  Lydia,  gold-bear¬ 
ing,  H,  8;  VI,  23,  37. 

Tragedy:  improvements  at  Athens,  VI, 

11. 

Troy:  visited,  IV,  11;  Memnon  did  not 
go  there,  VI,  4;  nor  Helen,  IV,  16; 


VH,  22;  Trojan  horse,  V,  26;  heroism 
there  exaggerated,  HI,  19;  giants  in 
those  days,  H,  21;  Trojans  still  offer¬ 
ing  sacrifices  to  Achilles,  IV,  16 ;  he  is 
implacable  (id.),  his  tomb  there,  IV, 
11. 

Trophonius:  his  oracle  at  Lebadea,  IV, 
24;  described,  VHI,  17-19;  approved 
Pythagorean  doctrines,  VHI,  19. 

Tyana :  in  Cappadocia,  I,  4,  13,  33 ;  VHI, 
29,  31. 

Typhon :  chained  under  JEtna,  V,  13, 
14,  16. 

Tyrant:  a  strange  beast,  IV,  38;  dispo¬ 
sition,  VH,  14;  resisted  by  philoso¬ 
phers,  VH,  2,  3 ;  not  difficult  to  resist, 

VH,  42;  how  dealt  with,  VII,  29. 

Tyrrhenian:  sea,  V,  11;  gulf,  VH,  13; 

Musonius  a  Tyrrhenian,  V,  19. 

Ulysses:  relations  with  Achilles,  IV,  11; 
receives  wind-bag  from  yEolus,  VH, 
14;  lives  with  Calypso,  VH,  10;  en¬ 
counters  Cyclops,  IV,  36;  VH,  28; 
Homer  neglects  Palamedes  on  his  ac¬ 
count,  HI,  22;  IV,  16;  aided  by  Leu- 
cothea,  VH,  22 ;  death  by  sea-urchin, 

VI,  32;  waylays  Palamedes,  HI,  22. 

Umbrella-footed  men  (Sciapodes)  :  in 
Ethiopia,  VI,  25 ;  not  found  in  India, 
HI,  45,  47. 

Unguent:  used  at  Indian  weddings,  HI, 
1 ;  another  kind,  HI,  17. 

Ursa  Major:  constellation  not  visible  in 
Erythraean  Sea,  HI,  53. 

Vardanes :  king  of  Babylon,  reinstated, 
I,  21 ;  dealings  with  Apollonius,  I,  29- 
41;  H,  1,  17,  40;  HI,  58;  letter  to 
Satrap  of  Indus,  II,  17. 

Venus:  (Aphrodite),  Hippolytus  rejected 
her,  VI,  3,  4,  5 ;  piebald  women  in 
India  dedicated  to  her,  HI,  3 ;  god¬ 
dess  of  marriage,  HI,  1 ;  statue  at  Pa¬ 
phos,  HI,  58 ;  at  Cnidos,  VI,  19,  40. 
Vespasian:  emperor;  comes  to  Egypt  to 
consult  Apollonius,  V,  27 ;  VH,  18 ; 
VHI,  7 ;  dealings  witli  him  there,  V, 
28-38 ;  letters  between  them,  V,  41 ; 
VHI,  7 ;  his  sons,  V,  35 ;  took  freedom 
from  Greece,  V,  41;  war  with  Jews,  V, 
33;  praised,  VI,  30,  31,  32;  V,  41;  sets 
out  his  policy,  V,  29. 

Vesta:  her  temple  at  Rome,  VH,  6. 

Vindex :  revolts  against  Nero  in  west, 

V,  10,  11,  33,  35;  VH,  4. 

Vines :  in  India,  Lydia  and  Masonia,  HI, 
5 ;  Domitian  forbids  their  cultivation, 

VI,  42;  planted  by  Bacchus  at  Nysa, 
H,  9. 


INDEX 


263 


Vipers,  care  for  young,  II,  14. 

Vitellius:  emperor,  V,  11,  13,  29,  30,  32, 
33,  34;  VIII,  7. 

Volcanoes;  their  causes,  V,  17. 

Vulcan:  makes  Achilles’  shield,  II,  22; 
said  to  have  forge  under  ^tna,  V,  16; 
skilful,  VI,  11,  17;  ensnares  Mars, 
VII,  26. 

Vultures  in  India:  II,  40. 

Water:  drinkers  of  water  have  advan¬ 
tage  over  wine-drinkers,  II,  35-37; 
measured  into  clepsydra  for  court  ad¬ 
vocates,  VIII,  2,  4,  6. 

Whales :  protect  their  young,  II,  14. 

Wine:  of  Babylon,  I,  21;  made  from 
dates,  II,  6,  7 ;  over-indulgence  cured, 
III,  40. 

Wise  men :  conduct,  I,  35 ;  oppose  ty¬ 
rants,  VII,  1-3 ;  foresee,  VIII,  7. 

Wolves:  care  for  cubs,  II,  14;  feed  on 
carrion,  II,  40. 

Women:  in  labor,  how  relieved.  III,  39; 
avoided  by  Apollonius,  I,  13. 


Wool;  produced  by  plant  in  India,  III, 
15. 

World :  elements  and  origin.  III,  34,  35 ; 
VIII,  7. 

Wrynecks:  (iynges),  I,  25;  VI,  11,  14; 
VIII,  7. 

Xerxes :  burns  Athens,  III,  31 ;  V,  7 ; 
flees  from  Salamis,  III,  31 ;  Eretrians 
erect  altar  to  him,  I,  24;  invasion  of 
Greece,  IV,  21 ;  conquest,  V,  41 ;  bridges 
Hellespont,  V,  7 ;  his  victories,  I,  25. 

Zeno:  of  Elis,  frees  Mysia  from  tyrant, 
VII,  2,  3. 

Zeugma :  frontier  city  at  bridge  over 
Euphrates,  I,  20,  37. 

Zeus :  temple  of  Capitoline  Jove  burned 
by  Vitellius,  V,  30;  VIII,  7;  praise  of 
Zeus,  IV,  30;  Olympian  Zeus,  I,  15; 
11,  43;  IV,  7,  28  ;  VI,  19;  VIII,  15,  17; 
avenger  of  perjury  (Orkios),  I,  6; 
preserver  (Soter),  II,  7;  good,  IV,  28; 
contrives  capture  of  Saturn,  VII,  26; 
born  in  Crete,  IV,  34 ;  Alexander 
erected  altar  in  India  to  Jupiter  Am¬ 
mon  as  his  father,  II,  43. 

Zeuxis :  the  painter,  II,  20. 


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B536  .A24P53  1923 

Life  and  times  of  Apollonius  of  Tyana, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1  1012  00007  5079 


DATE  DUE 

GAYLORD 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

